THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Day one of the 2014 Cal Lu Fornia Invitational sponsored by Posada Royale is in the books after an exciting day of volleyball at Cal Lutheran inside of the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center.
With four matches occurring simultaneously in both the Gilbert Arena and Soiland Recreation Center throughout the day, it was the final one of the evening that was the most exciting. No. 14 Trinity and No. 18 Pacific Lutheran battled to four sets with the Lutes taking home the 'W' after winning (29-27, 22-25, 25-17, 29-27).
In another matchup between highly ranked teams, No. 6 Emory swept past No. 4 Cal Lutheran by stealing the momentum early and maintaining the pace throughout. In 2013 the Regals downed the Eagles 3-0 early in the season at the Emory Invitational.
The last time that CLU was swept in a Division III match took place on Nov. 18, 2011 against Wittenberg in the NCAA Championship Tournament.
Earlier in the day the host Regals earned a 3-1 win over No. T-23 Mary Hardin-Baylor, winning the first two games (25-23, 25-17) before dropping the third (16-25) and coming back to steal the final set by a 25-18 margin.
Overall today for Cal Lutheran (5-1), Allie Eason and Michelle Lawrence combined for 70 kills and Nicki Tetherow came up with 45 digs while Jena Chavez and Kennedy Peters recorded 34 and 47 assists apiece, respectively. Lawrence was also a force at the net with three of the six solo blocks on the day.
The other matches that went to four sets were No. 18 Pacific Lutheran over No. 15 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (25-23, 25-17, 16-25, 25-21) to start the tournament, MHB against Chapman, winning 26-28, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23 and Pomona-Pitzer versus Willamette (21-25, 25-5, 25-22, 25-20).
All remaining matches were 3-0 sweeps with CMS defeating Augustana, Chapman downing George Fox, Emory taking out Trinity, PP cruising by GFU, Augustana earning a victory over Redlands, the University of Dallas sweeping past both Redland and Occidental with Willamette blanking out Oxy to round out the field.
Competition at the Seventh Annual Cal Lu Fornia Invitational will continue on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 11:30 a.m. with matches running until 6:00 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 3, UMHB 1
Box Score: EU 3, CLU 0
Tournament Central: 2014 Cal Lu Fornia Invitational
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