LEWISTON, Idaho – Freshman Tiffany Land (Independence, Ore.) recorded a career-high 14 kills, as Corban's women's volleyball team dropped its third and final match at the Holiday Inn Express Volleyball Tournament, 3-2 (25-23, 11-25, 25-22, 27-29, 7-15), to the Warriors of Westmont College Saturday.
After dropping a pair of matches on Friday, Corban came out today knowing that it would only have to play one match before heading back to the Capital City. Unfortunately, the Warriors ran into nationally-ranked Westmont College from the highly-touted Golden State Athletic Conference.
In the opening set, Corban came out an applied the pressure to its ranked opponent with a combined 11 kills versus six hitting errors. On the other side of the net, Westmont registered a combined 13 kills but fell victim to nine hitting errors therefore giving the Warriors the first set by two points (25-23).
In the second set, Corban saw a completely different Westmont squad as the Santa Barbara-based Warriors combined for 18 kills with only six hitting errors. Corban could only muster a mere four combined kills versus six hitting errors, as Westmont took the second set by 14 points (25-11).
In the third and middle set, each team came out hitting hard with Corban registering a combined 11 kills compared to Westmont's 13. The difference came with the hitting miscues, as Corban committed only five versus Westmont's seven en route to the Warriors winning the middle set by three points (25-22).
In the fourth set, both teams had to go extra for the first time on the young season and Westmont showed its high-powered offense with a combined 23 kills. Meanwhile, Corban continued to stay with its opponent registering 14 kills and a mere two hitting errors. Unfortunately for the Warriors, Westmont's offense could not be stopped which led to a two-point margin of victory (29-27).
In the fifth and deciding set, Westmont showed why it received votes in the NAIA preseason poll registering a combined 11 kills versus a mere two hitting errors. On the other hand, Corban could only muster three combined kills versus four hitting errors which led to an eight-point victory for Westmont (15-7) and a hard-fought five-set win.
Along with Land, sophomore Teri Braun (Dallas, Ore.) recorded a season-high nine kills. A trio of seniors -- Chelsea Reeher (Powell Butte, Ore.), Rashelle Davenport (Kalama, Wash.), and Rachel Gowen (Oregon City, Ore.) -- registered 6, 5, and 5 kills, respectively, to go along with freshman Megan Dees (Tehachapi, Calif.), who handed out a match-high tying 35 assists.
For Westmont, four Warriors recorded double-digit kill totals with Alison Sharp leading the way with 16. Kailee Blair and Stephanie Strasner combined to hand out 61 assists, as Blair tied Dees' match-high performance with 35.
With the loss, Corban begins its 2008 season at 0-3. Meanwhile, Westmont improves to 2-1 in '08. The Warriors return to action on Tuesday, September 2nd, when they face NCAA Division III member and cross town rival Willamette University beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside Cone Field House.
