SportsVolleyball

Volleyball continues winning streak

Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Henry gets one of her three blocks in the match during the second game against Cal Lutheran. The Leopards swept Cal Lu in three games Friday night to improve their SCIAC record to 2-1 and their overall record to 6-9. / photo by Ryan Sones
Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Henry gets one of her three blocks in the match during the second game against Cal Lutheran. The Leopards swept Cal Lu in three games Friday night to improve their SCIAC record to 2-1 and their overall record to 6-9. / photo by Ryan Sones

by Laura Czingula
Editorial Director

When it is time to focus and play their best, the University of La Verne women’s volleyball team is the perfect example, defeating two top teams in SCIAC last week, Cal Lutheran and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Tuesday night’s match against the CMS Athenas went fast for the Leopards, sweeping the match in three games, 15-13, 15-6, 15-5.

Although CMS had a quick start in the first game, going ahead of ULV, 3-1, the Leopards were not about to give up that easily.

La Verne finally sided out when freshman outside hitter Amy Brummel and sophomore middle blocker Sarah Henry blocked an attempt from Claremont. ULV got its momentum back, and from them on, there was no looking back for the Leopards.

Sophomore middle blocker Allison Moore brought La Verne up one on CMS when she attacked the ball at the net with a kill right down the Claremont line, 4-3 ULV.

The next point came when Henry slammed the ball on Claremont’s side too hard for CMS to even attempt to save, 5-3 La Verne.

“I felt I could have been stronger at the net,” said Henry. “I think I did play consistently throughout the match, though.”

Henry ended the night with 11 kills and six blocks.

“We didn’t know what to expect out of them, but we expected that they had improved from last year,” said Henry.

After a series of side outs by both teams and a close score of 13-11, Henry found an open hole and tipped the ball over the net, point La Verne. One minute later Henry does the same tip again fooling CMS, 14-13. The game ended with a line violation on CMS and ULV went one game up on Claremont.

The Leopards knew that CMS was a beatable team, and during the second match, they held CMS to six points.

Although Dianna Turner from Claremont did start the match off with an ace, CMS was unable to finish the game strongly and La Verne was too powerful to compete with.

Junior outside hitter Lynsey Best had a strong hit that flew off Claremont’s blockers tying the game 2-2. Then a solo block by senior out side hitter Jill Seaton added another ULV point.

With a few double contact violations against CMS and their hitters being late to the ball, La Verne was quickly up 7-2.

Then once Claremont finally sided out, bad serves and bad decisions only led them to give the ball up again and hand La Verne the victory, 15-6.

The last game of the night, the Leopards defeated Claremont, 15-5. The first point came from a dome play by Henry and Moore. ULV went on a 6-0 run until CMS sided out on a mistake caused by the Leopards.

La Verne received its 14th point when senior middle blocker Jacqui Zwissler hit the ball for a kill. The game ended on a violation by CMS and a victory for La Verne.

“I think we played together scrappy, but we pulled it off,” said assistant coach Don Flora. “We were scrambling a lot but that got us through some rough parts. It is good we got through a Tuesday night game, it is hard playing on Tuesdays with the school schedule.”

“We played well but we need to communicate better as a team,” said Best. “We all have the skills it is just putting them together on the court.”

The Leopards also defeated Cal Lutheran last Friday night in three games, 15-1, 15-4, 15-4.

The win was a pivotal one for the Leopards, considering that Cal Lutheran’s SCIAC winning streak of 26 consecutive games, which tied the record set by La Verne, was broken by a strong performance.

Henry had 13 kills, Moore and Brummel each had nine kills, and Best finished with eight kills.

“Cal Lu was an important win for us,” said Flora “Tonight [Tuesday] also was an important win for us. It showed that the game against Cal Lu was not a fluke.”

“Things are coming together. We are getting better every day,” said Best. “We had good practices the last two days and that helped us.”

ULV’s record is 2-1 in league and 6-9 overall.

The Leopards next game is tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Redlands.

Laura Czingula, Sports Editor
Laura Czingula
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