CLAREMONT, Calif. - In a battle between the top two teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) and two AVCA Top-25 contenders, No. 2 Cal Lutheran could not complete their ferocious comeback attempt as they fell 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-23, 12-15) in a heartbreaker to No. 20 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday night.
The loss snaps a 37-match conference winning streak dating back to Sept. 29, 2012 when the Regals were defeated 3-1 against Chapman. Cal Lutheran also had their season-high 16-match winning streak come to an end in just their second match to go five sets this year.
Allie Eason led the Regals comeback attempt with 17 kills and 26 digs while Sarah Pappas had 15 kills and a team-high 4 blocks. Throughout the night, however, CLU was unable to convert at a high rate, setting a season-low with a .089 hitting percentage and a season-high of 39 attack errors.
In the first set, the Athenas jumped out to a 19-10 lead behind a strong performance from Nicole Kerkhof and a number of costly mistakes from CLU. The Regals gathered themselves and got into a rhythm for a key 7-1 spurt to bring the score to 20-17 after a pair of kills by Eason. Pappas and Michelle Lawrence tallied kills towards the end of the first set to try and regain the lead; however, Kerkhof slammed home a kill to take the first set 25-21.
The second set began with three straight errors from CMS to give the Violet and Gold the 3-0 advantage but the lead would not hold for long as the Athenas scored eight of the next 11 points to take an 8-5 lead. Eason and Pappas went back and forth providing the kills in the set to keep the Regals in the mix. After a kill by Dianna Rohrer to even the score at 21-21, a CMS kill from Margaux Arnston followed by three straight from Kerkhof sealed the second set 25-21 for the Athenas.
Not going to go down without a fight, the second ranked team in the nation started the third set up 6-1 behind a handful of CMS errors and a pair of kills from Pua Mo'Okini-Oliveira. Both teams traded points throughout the set and with CLU holding a slight 19-17 lead, Eason and Pappas came through with three and two kills, respectively, before Nicki Tetherow capped off the third set with a service ace.
In the fourth set, both teams were neck-and-neck once again. CLU began the set taking yet another lead up 3-0 before allowing CMS to come back. Eason and Kerkhof were instrumental for their respective teams in the set accounting for five straight kills at one point. Eason came up with a clutch kill off a set from Jamie Smith to tie the game 23-23 and then two errors from the Athenas handed the game to the Regals.
In the fifth and final set, the Violet and Gold looked to have things under control after streaking out to a 4-1 lead and holding a 10-6 lead soon thereafter. After a CMS timeout, the Athenas rallied for four straight points to tie the game at 10-10. Hope Stewart gave CLU the lead with a kill off an assist from Smith and after a point from CMS, Lawrence spiked down a kill for the 12-11 lead. That was as close as the Regals would get as the Athenas would rally for another stretch of four straight points to win the set and the match.
Kerkhof led all players in the game with 18 kills and was a forced to be reckoned with coming through at key moments in the match.
For the Regals, Kennedy Peters was critical in setting up her teammates, accounting for 29 assists and also added 15 digs, two service aces and one kill. Lawrence added eight kills and Mo'Okini-Oliveira had seven in the loss.
Cal Lutheran (21-2, 10-1 SCIAC) will attempt to start a new streak when they return home to take on Redlands on Friday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Gilbert Arena.
Box Score: CLU 2, CMS 3
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