SWAGGER

By Brandon Petersen

There comes a point in a team's development, when it has played long enough with the same key pieces to know itself inside and out, and it becomes so good, that it starts to carry itself differently.

It's a quiet confidence combined with an efficient killer instinct.

You'll hear a lot of people call it, "Swagger."

The Dubs carried themselves with swagger Saturday night at Soka in a dominant sweep, 25-10, 25-2, 25-9.

Lukas Pusvaskis was an absolute beast at the stripe, serving up 10, count them, 10 service aces, to complement three kills and five digs, leading the Warriors with 13.5 points.

Close behind was Tom Dempsey with 12 points, all coming on 12 kills on just 15 attacks for a hitting percentage of .733.

Meanwhile Rodolfo Biegelmeyer scored on everything he hit, turning in a perfect .1000 percentage – six of six.

Tiago Silva nearly duplicated the act, turning in six kills on seven tries.

Nights like this don't come around often.

The Warriors were so good, Griffiths pulled the starters early.

Pawel Tuz finished with 16 assists and Nikos Kalagasidis had 15.

Andrin Broder turned in three kills, as did Gabriel Pizza.

Mathis Toupin had a kill, and Sanaila Batiratu had two.

Sebastian Ignaczak had four digs.

The Warriors will now turn their attention to an epic week of matchups, starting with back-to-back nationally-recognized teams, Olivet Nazare (RV) out of Illinois, and UC Merced (RV) at Gallo.

Those contests come on Monday (6 p.m.) and Thursday (6 p.m.)

The match at UC Merced will be a rematch of last season's incredible Cal Pac tournament final, where the Warriors came back on the Bobcats to capture the championship.

Westcliff then wraps a three-day-three-game road trip with visits to Simpson and Pacific Union on Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (8 p.m.), respectively.

It's going to be a tough week, both physically and mentally.

But the Warriors are well-prepared.