CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 4 Cal Lutheran women's volleyball team squared off against the No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas in a much anticipated matchup on Saturday night. The four-set thriller ended with CMS coming out on top with a 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-19) victory inside Roberts Pavilion.
The Regals came out ready to play and took an early lead in the first set with a 5-0 run to put the score at 7-1. The Regals continued to hold the Athenas back with another 4-0 scoring run with Molly Holloway behind the back line. CMS was unable to come back from the early deficit the Regals created and CLU pulled out a 25-15 win.
The second set was not as easy flowing as the first was for the Regals as CMS put up a fight from the beginning. They put up eight points before CLU put up three. The Regals were able to come back from the five point lead the Athenas had and tied it up at 12 all. CMS continued to push the Regals and would not give up. They grabbed 10 out of the next 16 points played between the two teams to take a 22-18 lead. The Regals did not stop playing together and closed the gap to make the score 24-22, but were not able to close out and the Athenas took the set.
CMS started off the third set with the first point but the Regals put up one of their own right after. The two teams began trading points back and forth until a three point run by the Regals put them ahead 12-8. The Regals were able to keep the lead until the very end when the Athenas tied it up at 24 all. CLU was unable to put points on the board and CMS pulled away 26-24.
The fourth set was controlled by the Regals for the first 21 points. The Athenas were able to tie it up at 11 all and the tie continued to flip for the next 10 points until CMS had a four-point scoring run that proved to be too much for the Regals making it 20-17. CLU was able to put up two more points before the Athenas closed the door 25-19.
Despite the loss, Michelle Lawrence put up 17 kills and nine digs, the highest of the match. Hope Stewart and Monica Lundgren had the same number of kills at 10 while Stewart also had a double-double and finished with 12 digs. Dani Gonzalez got her first start of the season and had 14 digs. Jamie Smith had 37 assists and Nicki Tetherow added 23 digs for the defense.
Cal Lutheran will host the Occidental Tigers this Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7:00 p.m. inside Gilbert Arena.
Box Score: CMS 3, CLU 1
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