LA VERNE, Calif. - The No. 4 Cal Lutheran women's volleyball team dropped a closely contested match to the La Verne Leopards 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 29-27, 25-22) on the road Friday night. This was the longest game of the season for the Regals so far, lasting two hours and seven minutes.
CLU started off the first set with four straight points with Molly Holloway starting at service. La Verne was able to come back and tie the game at eight but that was as close as they came to the lead. The Regals were able to regain and hold the lead, again with Holloway behind the back line helping score four straight points. The Leopards did not make it easy for the Regals and continued to fight back despite the score. The Regals were able to grab set point at 25-23 to take the first set.
The second set started with the Regals putting the first point on the board. The Leopards took the lead shortly after scoring two to every one point CLU scored, making it 6-3 La Verne. The Regals did not let that lead last long as they scored six points to take the lead 8-6. The set continued to be closely contested as the Leopards were able to take the lead after some miscues from the Regals, 13-11. The back and forth play continued throughout the rest of the set. CLU and La Verne traded leads but ultimately the Leopards held on long enough to take the win 25-20.
The third set started off very slow with each team trading points, which seemed to be the theme of the set. The first lead of the game for the Regals came at 7-6 and they went up from there scoring three more points before La Verne was able to score. CLU held the largest lead of the game at 15-7. The game continued to be close up until the end when the Regals had five set points but weren't able to score before La Verne pulled it away 29-27.
La Verne controlled the fourth set from the first point. The Regals had to go on the offensive in order to keep the game alive. The Leopards held a three-point lead for most of the set with CLU right behind them the entire time. The Regals were able to come back and tie the set at 21, and continued to make it difficult for La Verne. Ultimately, the Leopards were able to score four points before CLU scored one, putting the set at 25-22, La Verne.
Despite the loss, two Regals put up double-doubles with a huge number of kills. Hope Stewart recorded 17 kills and 14 digs, while Michelle Lawrence followed with 14 kills and 11 digs. Sarah Pappas added nine kills. Amanda Roberts and Monica Lundgren each had eight kills, Roberts also had nine digs. Dani Gonzalez started her first game of the season at libero and contributed 24 digs on the defensive end. Jamie Smith and Steph Rolfson split the total number of assists with 30 and 20, respectively.
The Regals (13-4, 4-2 SCIAC) look forward to their next game at home on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7:00 p.m. against Pomona-Pitzer (7-6, 3-2 SCIAC) in Gilbert Arena.
Box Score: LV 3, CLU 1
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