LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (Nov. 13, 2024) -- For the first time ever, the Whittier College volleyball team yielded two First Team All-SCIAC players in a single season with middle blockers
Mia D'Amato (Bakersfield, Calif. / Garces) and
Xenia Villagomez (Corona, Calif. / Santiago) taking the mantle as two of the conference's elite players in 2024.
D'Amato, last year's SCIAC Newcomer of the Year, won the award without receiving a first or second team designation in 2023. The second-year player sought to prove that she could not only avoid a sophomore slump, but become one of the conference's top players. She did just that. D'Amato had a stretch lasting more than a month of games with no fewer than seven kills and no more than two errors. As a result, she finished as one of the SCIAC's most efficient attacking players over the final six weeks of the season, and led Head Coach
Chris Duarte-McDermott's Poets to an 11-5 SCIAC record that not only matched last year's program-best total, but elevated them to the third seed in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament this year.
D'Amato finished the season with 168 kills, a .267 hitting percentage, and 48.5 total blocked (11 solo, 75 assisted). She also improved as a server with 11 total aces, six of which came over the Poets' final five games.
As for Villagomez, the senior returned for a fifth academic year in 2024 and sought to make it count. She did just that, with 138 kills and a .224 hitting percentage. Even on the Poets' worst day, they could always count on one of their senior leaders in Villagomez to make a play at the net. She also had 40.5 total blocks on the season (seven solo, 67 assisted). When things click, the senior showed herself to be one of the most dominant middles in the conference. Her best game came against the University of Redlands when she hit .600 behind a 9:1 kill-error ratio.
D'Amato, Villagomez and the Poets will travel to the University of La Verne on Thursday, Nov. 14, for the SCIAC Postseason Tournament Semifinals. The game is set to get underway at 7 p.m.
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