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Volleyball fails to qualify for playoffs

Whittier's middle blocker Amber Lawson (#9) gets the best of sophomore outside hitter Amy Brummel (#4) and junior middle blocker Sarah Henry (#14) during the third game of last Friday's match. La Verne won the match in four games, 15-10, 13-15, 15-9, 15-10, but it failed to make the Division III playoffs. / photo by Isela Peña
Whittier’s middle blocker Amber Lawson (#9) gets the best of sophomore outside hitter Amy Brummel (#4) and junior middle blocker Sarah Henry (#14) during the third game of last Friday’s match. La Verne won the match in four games, 15-10, 13-15, 15-9, 15-10, but it failed to make the Division III playoffs. / photo by Isela Peña

by Damien Alarcon
Staff Writer

Considering the University of La Verne women’s volleyball team failed to defend its conference championship title or qualify for playoffs, head coach Don Flora was more than satisfied last Friday night in the Supertents, as the team finished the season with a win over Whittier College in four games; 15-10, 13-15, 15-9 and 15-10.

“I like the way we finished off the season,” said Flora. “We had a great second half of the year.”

Being the last game of the year and having the home court advantage, the Leopards were on fire beginning the first game of the match, taking a quick 8-1 lead over the Poets.

The Poets pulled through later, coming back to bring the score within one point, 8-7. Unfortunately for Whittier, it never managed to take the lead in the game. The Leopards won with an aggressive performance, 15-10.

In the second game, Whittier took action as the aggressor taking a 7-2 lead before Flora decided to take a time out. After an exchange of points and side outs, La Verne found itself in a new deficit, falling further behind, 12-7.

Junior outside hitter Kim Bell added three kills to the Leopards’ attack, taking a 13-12 lead later in the game. Whittier, however, managed to defend itself with a game-winning block by Brooke Levertte.

“We seemed to let down a bit in the second game and made some errors,” said senior Lynsey Best. “Whittier did play very well, I give them that.”

The next two games followed similar patterns in that both teams fought and exchanged leads at many times throughout the competition. At the end of both games, the Leopards broke away from a close score winning 15-9 and 15-10.

“It was a matter of ball control,” said Flora. “In the games that we won, we did not give up more than two points, but in the second game, we were giving up four and five in a row.”

Leading the night in kills was sophomore right-side hitter Amy Brummel, who compiled 16 kills and four service aces. Junior middle blocker Sarah Henry ended the night with 13 kills and an attack percentage of .478.

The Leopards ended with a second place finish in SCIAC with a 9-3 conference record behind Cal Lutheran.

Next year’s squad will be one to look forward to since the Leopards will lose only one person off the 12-player roster. Best finished her four year stay on the squad with nine kills in her final match, one of which was the game-winning kill.

“It was great ending my last game and the volleyball season with the kill,” said Best. “It was the perfect ending.”

Damien Alarcon, Sports Editor
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