THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - In front of a rowdy Gilbert Arena crowd, the No. 5 Cal Lutheran women's volleyball team took down No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-18) in a much anticipated Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) matchup on Friday night.
With the win, the Regals avenged an earlier loss this season to the Athenas and now sit tied for first-place with La Verne with an 11-2 conference record while CMS is just half a game behind at 10-2.
With the arena as loud as ever, the Regals took an early 3-1 lead to start the first set before the Athenas pushed back and tied it up at 4-4. CLU continued to move forward and scored four more points to put the score at 8-6. Feeding off the energy from the fans, the Regals piled up the points and created too much of a deficit for CMS to overcome. The Violet and Gold capped off the first set 25-16 after scoring the last five consecutive points in the set highlighted by a service ace from Jamie Smith.
The second set was more closely contested throughout as the Athenas looked to get back in the game. The Regals got on the board first with the first two points, but CMS came back and scored four of their own. The deadlock ensued for most of the set until CMS took a late lead 19-16, but the Regals did not stop fighting. Trailing by three, CLU scored three straight points behind kills from Michelle Lawrence and Amanda Roberts to tie the game at 19-19. Down the stretch, the Regals rallied for six more points while limiting CMS to just four to clinch the set 25-23.
The Regals were down to start the third set, with the Athenas taking the first three points. CMS grabbed an early lead but the Regals kept the gap small, and with Molly Holloway on service the Regals came within one point of the Athenas, 11-10. The points continued to be traded back and forth across the court, until CLU went on an eight to one scoring run with Roberts on service for half of the points acquired. This momentum swing proved to be too much for the Athenas to handle and the Regals took the set and the match, 25-18.
The Regals played as hard as the crowd cheered, with Hope Stewart leading the way for CLU with 13 kills and eight digs. Lawrence and Roberts followed with 11 and nine kills, respectively, while Roberts also grabbed 13 digs for the second highest total in the match. Monica Lundgren and Sarah Pappas each had five kills and Holloway also had two aces. Smith had 38 assists and 10 digs, while Nicki Tetherow held up the defensive end for the Regals putting up a match-high 16 digs.
Cal Lutheran (20-4, 11-2 SCIAC) will travel to Occidental College with momentum to take on the Tigers tomorrow, Oct. 22 at 4:00 p.m. before returning to Gilbert Arena for Senior Night against La Verne in a pivotal match this Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 7:00 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 3, CMS 0
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