by Christine Owen
Editor in Chief
Continuing its quest for a second consecutive SCIAC championship, the University of La Verne’s women’s volleyball team (17-1, 11-1) toppled Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday for the third time this season, 30-22, 30-27, 29-31, 30-21.
“They really showed good mental strength to come back and dominate that fourth game,” said Don Flora, head coach.
With two games already wrapped up, the Leopards led for the majority of the third game until two consecutive kills by outside hitter Lisa Glendenning (13 kills) broke a 23-23 tie and put the Athenas ahead by two.
The two teams traded kills for points until the game was tied again at 26-26. ULV errors moved the Athenas ahead by two, 26-28.
A kill by outside hitter Amy Kratochvil (17 kills) moved the Leopards within one and a chance to tie the game, but outside hitter Adele Jones served it into the net, moving Claremont ahead, 27-29.
Back-to-back kills from Kratochvil and middle blocker Adriana Contreras (20 kills) tied for a fourth time at, 29-29, but the Leopards would score no more as Claremont scored twice to close the game.
“Offensively, we started making some mistakes and we weren’t able to pull it back together in the third game,” said outside hitter Amy Smith, who registered 19 kills and 10 digs for the night.
By the time game four reached 14-14, it had been tied 10 times.
From there the Leopards went on a five-point scoring run and increased its lead to 19-14. A kill from Athena Loriana Berman (18 kills) broke the Leopards momentum but Claremont was in no position to catch La Verne.
A kill from outside-hitter Jennifer Stout placed the Leopards in match-winning position, at 29-19, but Tonya Icenogle (18 kills) was determined to make the La Verne fans who were standing on their feet and cheering in the stands wait as she laid down the last of her 18 kills for the night for Claremont.
On the next point Stout had a hitting error bringing the Athenas within eight at 29-21, but that was as close as they would get as Stout finished off the match with a kill.
Setter Ryan Winn had a match-high 67 assists for the Leopards.
On Tuesday, the Leopards traveled to Claremont again, only this time to face off against Pomona-Pitzer for the second time this season.
ULV defeated the Sagehens in three games, 30-14, 30-15, 30-16.
Leading the Leopards with a match-high 13 kills was Smith while Kratochvil added 10 kills and led with 13 digs. Winn had a match-high 36 assists.
At 7:30 p.m. tonight, La Verne will play its most important match of the season against Cal Lutheran.
Cal Lu is ranked No. 1 in SCIAC while La Verne is No. 2.
“Cal Lu has some big hitters so I think that as long as we block, we’ll be okay,” Smith said.
At a previous matchup earlier in the season, ULV was forced to forfeit to Cal Lu because it didn’t have enough players on the court.
The forfeit stands as the Leopards only loss of the season.
Flora said important factors in winning tonight’s game will be “our ball control, blocking, mental rhythm and having good rhythm as a team.”
And how do the women feel about tonight’s game?
“We just really want to beat them,” Winn said.
Christine Owen
