Springfield, Ohio - For the second time this year the Cal Lutheran volleyball team has rolled through a tournament with a 4-0 showing. At the 2014 Wittenberg Fall Classic the Regals powered past No. 10 Washington-St. Louis in five sets before cruising to 3-0 sweeps of No. 8 Juniata, Heidelberg and Otterbein.
Overall this weekend, Allie Eason again paced the offense with 4.86 points per set, coming from 57 kills, 49 digs, eight service aces, six block assists and three assists. Michelle Lawrence tallied 52 total kills with 35 digs and a solo block with four block assists. Recording 21 and 20 kills, respectively, for CLU were Sarah Pappas and Pua Mo'okini-Oliveira with Dianna Rohrer putting down 18 and Hannah Orlandi rounding out the double-figure contributors with 13. Again sharing the setting duties, Jena Chavez and Kennedy Peters each dished out 74 assists and combined for 48 digs. A dual-threat, Nicki Tetherow dug the ball 73 times and added five service aces. Everyone who stepped on the court contributed to the final outcomes.
When asked about her assessment of this weekend's performance head coach Kellee Roesel said, "I am just really proud of this group," she went on, "I wanted to make sure that we played the toughest schedule possible in the preseason to test them and gauge where we stand and I could not be any happier with the progress."
On Friday against Washington University of St. Louis early jitters from the Regals were seen on the court, but the Violet and Gold found a rhythm and went on to win the five-set thriller 14-25, 25-23, 25-17, 20-25, 16-14. Cal Lutheran totaled 60 kills and 72 digs with 12 block assists.
A 10-10 first set tie was broken by four consecutive Bears points and swayed the momentum in favor of the Missouri team that took the game after hitting at a .444 clip with a single error while the Regals combined to hit just .056. The second set evened the score as CLU got back in it with a 25-23 win. Knotted at 21-21 Lawrencebroke the tie and the Regals clung on to the lead with a much improved .270 hitting percentage. The pace of play belonged to Cal Lutheran in the third game after opening an early 6-2 lead and pushing the gap to as much as 22-11 en route to the 'W'. The Bears were not going away easily, however, and used blocking to their advantage in the fourth frame as they ran away with a game that CLU never led, despite pulling within three twice. The fifth and decisive set needed extra points as the teams exchanged the lead a trio of times during the first 11 points and were never separated by more than a pair of points throughout. There were nine ties with the final one, 14-14, broken up by an Easonkill before Lawrence finished it off to clinch the match for the Regals.
The second outing for the Violet and Gold on Friday afternoon pitted Cal Lutheran against Otterbein. A strong start was maintained throughout as the Southern California squad won by 25-14, 25-12 and 25-13 margins.
CLU opened an 8-2 advantage in the first game that started with a Cardinals service error and ended with an Orlandikill. The second started with a service ace from Petersand concluded with a kill from Mo'okini-Oliveiraafter as much as a 19-7 advantage. The third and final game featured six total aces with Eason and Jamie Smith each notching a pair and Peters and Hope Stewart adding one apiece.
Returning to the courts early on Saturday morning, Cal Lutheran used a phenomenal overall hitting percentage of .330 to power past Juniata 25-16, 25-19, 25-17 and hand the Eagles their first loss of the fall.
The Regals showed balance and patience throughout the match, looking to Eason and Lawrence for 27 combined kills. Tetherowand Chaveztallied 24 and 12 digs, respectively. Peters provided 19 assists in the match and Chavez handed out 15 as well. At the service line, Peters, Smith, Tetherow and Pappaseach recorded an ace. CLU came up with six block assists, including a pair from Pappas.
In the final match of the weekend, Cal Lutheran downed Heidelberg 25-17, 25-19, 26-24 to cap of another successful tournament.
Midway through the first game, CLU reeled off five unanswered points to go ahead 17-11 and never looked back before Pappas ended it with a kill. The second set saw a little more life from the Student Princes who took an early lead as the score teeter-tottered until the Regals put together a 6-2 run to turn the deficit into an advantage at 13-11. Cal Lutheran pushed the differential to as many as nine at 23-14 on a kill from Stewart who also recorded the final point. The third and final game was the most competitive one as the teams swapped points throughout with the largest scoring discrepancy coming at four points (20-16). The Regals, trailing at that mark, promptly recorded four straight points to pull even before ultimately winning 26-24. Pappas had a breakout match with 13 kills, adding two block assists, a dig and an assist. Lawrence was on fire, notching 17 kills in 33 swings for a .424 average with 12 digs for a double-double against the Student Princes.
An All-Tournament Team will be announced at the conclusion of competition and a number of Regals have a legitimate shot at being honored after solid performances from so many.
"We are really starting to play CLU volleyball, which is exactly what we need to be doing heading into a very competitive conference schedule," Roesel concluded.
Cal Lutheran (11-1) returns to the friendly confines of the Gilbert Arena to open Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) competition on Saturday, Sept. 20 against Pomona-Pitzer at 6:00 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 3, WAU 2
Box Score: CLU 3, OTT 0
Box Score: CLU 3, JUN 0
Box Score: CLU 3, HU 0
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports
Follow Coach Roesel: @CoachRoesel
Follow Allie: @Regals_VB
CLU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clusports
CLU Instagram: http://instagram.com/clusports#
