LOS ANGELES – Cal Lutheran women's volleyball continued its tear through SCIAC play Tuesday night, cruising past Occidental 3-1 (25-10, 24-26, 25-16, 25-17) at Rush Gymnasium to extend its winning streak to five matches.
The Regals (9-6, 5-0 SCIAC) dominated three of the night's four sets, hitting .313 as a team while holding the Tigers (7-7, 2-3 SCIAC) to a .135 attack percentage. Cal Lutheran's 62 kills were just one shy of its season high and marked the most kills the Regals have recorded in a four-set match this season.
After trading points early in the opening set, Cal Lutheran flipped the momentum with a 10-2 run that featured kills from
Cienna Alvarez and
Emily Ford to take a 15-6 advantage. The Regals continued to pile on from there, building a 21-8 lead before closing out the set, 25-10.
Oxy answered in the second, using a 6-1 run to take a 20-18 lead late in the frame. Cal Lutheran battled back, fighting off two set points and tying the score at 24 behind kills from
Tarin Rueckert and Alvarez, but the Tigers claimed the next two points to even the match.
The response was immediate, as Cal Lutheran raced out to a 10-4 lead in the third behind early kills from Ford and
Kennedy Smith, before another extended run pushed the advantage to 18-6. Alvarez added a kill and an ace during the stretch, while Ford continued to deliver offensively. After Oxy briefly cut into the lead, Ford and Smith answered with kills, and
Reese Balagot followed with two of her own. Back-to-back aces from
Kimmy Wilson sealed the 25-16 set win and put the Regals back in front.
The Regals carried that momentum into the fourth, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before Occidental answered with three straight. The teams traded points throughout the middle portion of the set before Cal Lutheran ripped off seven consecutive points to turn an 11-11 tie into an 18-11 lead. Alvarez and Smith combined for five kills during the run.
Another late push brought the Regals to match point at 24-15, and Balagot put the finishing touch on the victory with a kill.
Smith led all players with 17 kills while hitting .405, while Ford and Alvarez each added 14 kills. Ford was particularly efficient, committing just one attack error on 31 attempts to hit .419. Alvarez hit .346 while also recording 12 digs.
Wilson and
Makenna Kawamura combined to keep the Regals' offense rolling, finishing with 25 and 26 assists, respectively. Wilson also served up four of Cal Lutheran's eight aces, while Kawamura added eight digs.
Defensively,
Keegan Corley once again anchored the Regals with a match-high 24 digs. She also added six assists and an ace.
Cal Lutheran will put its perfect 5-0 SCIAC record on the line Saturday when the Regals return home to host defending national runner-up La Verne at 4 p.m. at Gilbert Arena.
