The Lady Warrior varsity volleyball team took on the Bowie Bulldogs in the Regional Quarterfinal playoff game on Nov. 8 at the Delco Center. This was the third time the Lady Warriors have competed against the Bulldogs and with their win in three straight sets, they have now beaten the Bulldogs on three different occasions.

“I think the hardest thing for us was that we have played Bowie twice in preseason, and I think it is a huge mental obstacle to get past by not going into the game too comfortable especially since a lot of teams have changed since August,” head coach Tara Nelson said. “I thought the girls did a really great job of mentally and physically preparing in practice for this game”

The Delco Center was filled with Westwood students and organizations including the Tailgate Club and the softball, baseball, and cross country team. With a tailgate before and the high energy of the crowd, the Lady Warriors were ready to compete as soon as they ran onto the court. The girls started out strong with multiple kills from Annie Rose Leggett ‘17 and successful tips by Paige Etherington ‘17. Once the score reached 9-3, Bowie called their first timeout, but the Lady Warriors pushed on with strong defense. After a serve from Etherington, Bowie hit the ball out and allowed the Warriors to win the first set 25-11.

“No matter what happens and how many times you played them before you have to just act like they are a new team and play like it is the toughest game of them season because if you don’t do that then they could come back and take it from you,” Tori Clitheroe ‘17 said. “We will definitely keep focusing on our side and try to eliminate errors. When games get tough we can’t have errors happening, so it will be a lot of focusing on our side and what we need to do to get better.”

The energy continued moving into the second set with kills by Clitheroe and Cara Dolbear ‘17. Even as defense began to struggle with accuracy, the girls pushed points with strong serves and hits. This resulted in Bowie calling two timeouts throughout the set which allowed the Bulldogs to gain points, but ultimately the Lady Warriors won the second set 25-18.

Going into the third set, the Lady Warriors began to struggle to keep a lead due to errors in both offense and defense. After Westwood’s first time out of the game, the girls’ energy began to return. Libero Mackenzie Downs ‘17 dug multiple balls get them back in the game. In the final rallies, the teams began to exchange points. Each team had multiple game point opportunities, but struggled to secure the win due to serves landing out and missed passes. At Westwood’s third game point attempt, Leggett swung and killed the ball, giving the Warriors a 28-26 win.

“I think we have to have two really good practices because going into this next tournament we actually have to prepare for two opponents because if we win, we play the very next day,” Coach Nelson said. “We have never had to do that before as far as mentally preparing goes but we will have a lighter practice Wednesday and really get to it on Thursday.”

The Lady Warriors continue in the playoff with the Regional Finals game on Friday, Nov. 11 against The Woodlands High School at Sam Houston State University at 6:30 p.m.. Go Wood.