by David Sutton
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne’s women’s volleyball team traveled to Thousand Oaks Tuesday to take on a tough Cal Lutheran squad and lost in four games, 7-15, 18-16, 4-15 and 14-16.
The Leopards had to battle many adverse conditions during the game including a low roof and boisterous fans.
Cal Lutheran jumped out to an early lead by dominating every aspect of the game. The score was 6-0 in favor of Cal Lutheran when La Verne called for a timeout. After the timeout La Verne responded and scored immediately, cutting the lead to 6-1.
Cal Lutheran then went on a scoring spree combining power and finesse. Smashing kills and soft tips appeared to take the steam out of La Verne’s effort. The score was 9-1.
La Verne tried to battle back getting within four points at 11-7, but Cal Lutheran went back to the power game to win the game, 15-7.
After being heckled by fairly rude fans in the first game, La Verne came out on fire in the second game. The Leopards went up 2-0 when Cal Lutheran couldn’t handle the serve, and received a double hit violation.
Cal Lutheran scored when Michelle Pulver couldn’t dig a Regal kill. When ULV regained the serve, five straight points gave them the lead, 7-1.
After battling at the net and exchanging sideouts, the score became 13-8 in favor of the Leopards. Cal Lutheran battled back to tie 14-14. With the score tied at 16-16 La Verne scored two consecutive points to win the game, 18-16.
“We played up and down all night,” said Head Coach Jim Paschal.
The Leopards came out flat in the third game allowing Cal Lutheran to jump out to 8-2 lead. La Verne got as close as 10-4 before the Regals ran off five consecutive points to win 15-4.
“We were in every game tonight,” Paschal said.
The Leopards came out smoking in game four. They were on top of their game. Sophomore Denise Rice consistently blocked the Regal hitting attack while junior Margaret Pulver whizzed the ball by Cal Lutheran for the kills. With a 7-0 lead, Cal Lutheran scored four unanswered points. After La Verne regained the serve, they got a blistering ace from senior Gena Conacher.
La Verne began to get tired and Cal Lutheran mounted a comeback. The Regals used soft tips to score and pull even with La Verne, 9-9. The teams traded points back and forth and were tied 14-14 before ULV gave up two quick points, the game and the match, 16-14.
