THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The No. 6 Cal Lutheran women's volleyball team returned to the friendly confines of Gilbert Arena as well as the win column with a 3-0 sweep against Whittier in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) matchup on Saturday night.
After suffering their first conference loss of the season at the hands of No. 21 La Verne last night, the Regals were eager to get back out on the court.
Whittier, however, was also eager out of the gates and took an early 4-1 lead on the Violet and Gold. After CLU settled in, they took advantage of a handful of Poet miscues to take the lead back 6-5.
The first set would go back and forth and the score would remain close until a pair of kills from Sarah Pappas and an Allie Eason kill put the Regals up by five, 20-15. After back-to-back kills from Eason and Michelle Lawrence to take a 23-16 lead, Whittier would rattle of six straight points to get back in the game, but Eason slammed home yet another kill and Jamie Smith finished the set of with an ace.
The second set featured more of the same dominance from Eason along with Lawrence and Monica Lundgren adding crucial kills throughout. Both teams remained somewhat even in the early goings, but CLU started clicking and extended their lead to 16-9 after a Nicki Tetherow service ace. A handful of Whittier attacking errors allowed the Regals lead to grow and Tetherow came through with another ace to end the match 25-18.
After sitting tied 7-7 in the third set, the Violet and Gold ran away with the game with nine straight points and 15 of the next 16 to seal the victory.
Eason notched her fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 11 kills and 11 digs while Lawrence had a strong all-around performance with nine kills, 11 digs and five total blocks. Smith and Mikayla Dobson combined for 32 assists and Pappas and Lundgren each tallied three block assists. CLU totaled nine service aces in the match, led by two from Eason and Tetherow.
Whittier (14-8, 5-5 SCIAC) was led by Rebecca Slattery, who had nine kills, Jennifer Estrada's 15 digs and Torrey Mitsunaga's 14 assists.
Cal Lutheran (20-3, 10-1 SCIAC) will have five days off to prepare for a critical conference road match at No. 10 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (17-5, 7-2 SCIAC) this Friday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 3, WC 0
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