Golden Eagles finally return to the court, suffer losses in season opener

It's been nearly two years since the West Hills College Lemoore women's volleyball team saw action because of the pandemic while new head coach Kevin Wilds had to wait over a year since his hiring. But that wait finally came to an end with the 2021 season opener. Unfortunately, it wasn't the start Wilds and the Golden Eagles were hoping for as West Hills Lemoore suffered a pair of losses in Modesto on Friday.

West Hills opened with a 3-0 defeat (25-17, 25-18, 25-15) to Cosumnes River College and closed the Pirates Quad with a 3-1 loss (25-17, 25-12, 24-26, 25-17) to host Modesto Junior College.

Hitting errors hurt the Golden Eagles against CRC as they committed 27 on 85 attempts. WHCL totaled 17 kills on the night, getting a team-high six kills from sophomore Claire Broomfield to go along with six digs.

Morgan Turner added four kills and five digs while Esperanza Garcia had four kills, 2 digs, and a block. Monica Macias led the Golden Eagles with nine digs. Makayla Alapisco Zamora posted 10 assists and seven digs while Desiree Clay served up four aces.

Trailing 2-0 against Modesto, the Golden Eagles were able to pull out a marathon 26-24 win in Set 3 but couldn't complete the comeback. Broomfield once again paced the Golden Eagles with seven kills to go with an impressive 19 digs. Emma Revious added five kills and six digs while Kimberly Beltran led WHCL with 11 assists.

The Golden Eagles will get their next chance for their first win on Friday (Sep. 3) when they travel to Los Medanos College for a 2 p.m. match against Monterey Peninsula College and a 4 p.m. contest vs. host Los Medanos.