by Martha I. Fernandez
Managing Editor
With dwindling hopes of making it to the Division III playoffs, the University of La Verne women’s volleyball team fell victim to two teams they had previously defeated, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and the University of Redlands.
“We had a small chance of going to the playoffs, now I’m not sure,” said Jim Paschal, head coach.
Last night, the Leos traveled to Chapman for their final game of the season.
“They’ll probably finish us off,” said Paschal.
The Leos’ record before Thursday’s match stood at 9-16 overall and 6-6 in SCIAC.
“We worked hard with a tough schedule,” said senior outside hitter Michelle Pulver. “I wish we could have won a little more, but there are good freshmen and they’ll continue to grow to be good for next year.”
ULV held the momentum in Tuesday’s first match and closed it out 15-13, but the Redlands Bulldogs dominated the next three for the win, 7-15, 12-15 and 13-15.
Despite the loss, the Leos still dominated the game in kills, assists, digs and aces, but unfortunately also in errors.
Senior outside hitter Margaret Pulver led the Leos in kills with 17 and digs with 9, senior setter Kim Caravalho had 54 assists and both freshman outside hitter Jennifer Edie and sophomore middle blocker Michelle Runyan had three service aces to their credit.
Michelle Pulver weaved in and out of play and was replaced with freshman Celestial George throughout the game.
“They wanted to put a bigger right side block,” said Pulver. Unfortunately, this strategy failed to give the Leos the upper hand.
The biggest disappointment of the match came in the last game when the Leos lost the 10-0 lead it had over the Bulldogs. Becky Pearson of Redlands led her team to victory with kill after kill in the fourth game allowing the Bulldogs to come from behind and catch up to La Verne.
“We should have closed it out. Redlands has gotten better as the season has come along.
“We played fairly well, but we didn’t block as well as we could,” said Paschal.
The match was the last home one for the Leos, as well as the last game in the Supertents for seniors Caravalho, Margaret Pulver and Michelle Pulver. All three played for the volleyball team during their four years at ULV.
“It would have been good to end the season with a win,” said Michelle Pulver.
Last Friday, the Leo volleyball team traveled to Claremont to face off with the Athenas.
Once again, ULV’s momentum at the beginning of the match dominated play. The force the team displayed allowed them to take the first two games, 15-6 and 15-11, but weakened through out the course of the match, leading them to lose the next three, 7-15, 6-15 and 13-15.
Outside hitter Denise Rice led the Leos with 13 kills, followed by Margaret Pulver, who finished with 12. Caravalho had five aces.
Martha I. Fernandez
