The Westwood JV Orange volleyball team brought the heat to the court against the Manor Mustangs on Friday, Oct.24. The Lady Warriors had their final game of the season, and made sure to close it out with a bang, taking home one last victory of 2-0 for the 2025-26 season. 

“The final game of the season is always really bittersweet,” Isabelle Call ‘28 said. “We had one goal, and that was to finish strong.”

After the Warrior’s final pregame huddle, they started the first set with the ball, having Henley Hammonds ‘28 serve. The first serve flew right past the Manor backrow, giving Westwood a lead of 1-0, and an early burst of confidence. Hammonds continued to serve, giving Manor hard balls to deal with, causing blunders, further expanding the lead to 2-0. Upfront, Aurora Simmons ‘28 got her first point of the night, with the smart tip, allowing the Warriors to stretch their lead to 3-0. However, the Mustangs soon scored their first point of the night off a faulty Westwood serve, advancing the score to 3-1. 

Hammonds continues well placed, fast serves, along with strong blocks bySimmons upfront helped bring the Warriors to a lead of 5-1. Right off of a Manor serve, DeLaney Selfridge ‘27 got a hard kill, jumping high and putting pressure on the Manor defense, kills like this would help strain the Mustangs momentum moving forward. Manor soon called for a timeout with hopes of regrouping, following the break the Lady Warriors were fired up, Simmons proceeded to score multiple points off of her serves as the set reopened post timeout, helping Westwood climb the score board 10-2. 

The majority of the points the Warriors scored during the first set was a result of numerous aces advancing them to a 15-2 lead. Players had mentioned that throughout the season working on serves was a big priority during practice. Westwood continued to breeze through the game weakening Manor defense. Although Manor snuck a few points onto the board, they weren’t able to keep up with the pace that the Warriors had been playing. Lila Nicosia ‘28, proved crucial in closing the first set with multiple spikes from the front row. The final score of the first set was 25-5.

“We did really well upfront getting good spikes,” Nicosia said. “We communicated really well and that helped a lot up front.”

Following a fiery first set, the Warriors were ready to finish the game off strong. Westwood began a little shaky as the set opened, tying the game at 3-3. However, it didn’t take long for the Warriors to find their rhythm and get back to dominating the court. Much like the previous set, the Lady Warriors emphasized giving Manor sharpserves, which proved beneficial in giving them the lead early at 10-4. Aside from the serves, Westwood was also able to have some unstoppable kills by Nicosia and Quinn Ewert ‘28, helping them reach 14-5. Westwood did find some turbulence, as they began to blunder letting the Mustangs advance 15-8 and shrink their lead. It wasn’t long until Westwood ended Manor’s confidence boost with an intense kill by Kate Hammonds ‘27, helping them back on their feet, 16-8. 

Westwood was able to quickly advance to 21-12 through numerous aces. With excitement to finish out the game the girls gave it their all, placing the ball strategically with logical kills and pressing great pressure onto the Mustang defense. The game was closed out by an ace by court captain Grace Toledo ‘28, ending the season’s last set 25-13. The Warriors won the game 2-0.

Throughout the season the Warriors played hard, hustled, and worked as a team. They progressed both physically but also in terms of communication, and such results were displayed in their play.

“Overall, this season has really been great,” Ewert said. “We worked really hard, and everything that we’ve been working towards really fell in place tonight.”