Westlake High defeats Mater Dei 3-2 Southern California Regional DII: High School Volleyball
It took a long time for the jubilations at the Westlake High’s side of the court to seize on Thursday. They had reason to celebrate, as Westlake had just defeated Mater Dei’s boys volleyball team in a fierce five set battle that ended in a 25-21, 17-25,
15-25, 29-27 and 16-14 win for Westlake.
Westlake has had 26 wins with only five losses so far in the season. As opposed to the performance statistics of Westlake, Mater Dei supports a better record that is reflective of their ranking. They have been able to tally 28 wins at the expense of incurring
four losses in all.
The coach of the Westlake team commented after the game, "We wanted to focus on some redemption. They played great, but we felt we didn't bring our whole game that match. The great thing about volleyball is the score's not cumulative like baseball. We just
looked at it like we were down 2-1. We tied it at 2-2 and anything can happen in Game 5.”
The first set of the match saw both Westlake and Mater Dei enter some tough competition. Both the teams wanted to assert their dominance and set the tone for the rest of the match by winning the opening set. However, the team that was finally able to bag
the first set of the game was Westlake, who sealed the deal at 25-21.
Losing the initial set of the game sent a much needed wake up call to Mater Dei who were able to step up their game. The result was that Mater Dei remained successful in winning the second as well as the third set, putting Westlake under a huge amount of
pressure.
Westlake responded positively to the heat and out-played Mater Dei by claiming the fifth set for themselves at 16-14.
Mater Dei will not look upon this semi-final of the Southern California Regional Div. II tournament as a source of any comfort as they had their eyes set on the final, which is scheduled to be played on Saturday. The team that Westlake will be contesting
for the champion’s title is Corona del Mar. Having defeated the number one ranked team will give the confidence that Westlake needs to face the champions of the Southern Section Div. II in the finals.
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