SportsVolleyball

SCIAC win streak halted at 56 matches

La Verne’s volleyball team lost to Juniata in four matches in Saturday's game. Senior Courtney Rollins lead the team offensively with nine kills, with Mandy Sedia trailing with eight. The two women are the only seniors left on the team. / photo by Emmah Obradovich
La Verne’s volleyball team lost to Juniata in four matches in Saturday’s game. Senior Courtney Rollins lead the team offensively with nine kills, with Mandy Sedia trailing with eight. The two women are the only seniors left on the team. / photo by Emmah Obradovich

Steven Falls
Sports Editor

The University of La Verne women’s volleyball team had their 56-match Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win streak snapped last Friday, 3-1 (15-30, 28-30, 30-15, 21-30) against Cal Lutheran at CLU Gymnasium in Thousand Oaks.

The Leopards also fell to No. 2 ranked Juniata (PA) for the second time this year the next day at Pomona College in Claremont. ULV fell to Juniata, 3-1, on Sept. 17.

Ironically, the SCIAC loss was the first for the Leopards since a match forfeit against Cal Lutheran on Oct. 6, 2001. The last actual on-court loss came against Occidental in October of 2000.

“It was not the most crisp volleyball that we have played all year,” head coach Don Flora said of the loss to Cal Lutheran.
“They put the pressure on us and we really did not play to our full potential.”

In the match, Cal Lutheran jumped out to a quick start putting the Leopards in a hole quickly.

“They are great and got off to a good start,” Flora said. “We got off to a slow start.”

Home court advantage was not on ULV’s side playing on the road against a Cal Lu team who has the luxury of enjoying one of the best home court advantages around.

“It is the toughest gym in the country to play in,” Flora said.

Flora downplayed the importance of the SCIAC unbeaten streak and pointed toward the team’s goals this year.

“For us, it is about winning conference, that is our first goal,” Flora said. “This group can say they were a part of it (the streak).”

Despite the two losses, Flora remained upbeat and positive about his team’s accomplishments and continued to press about the future they have ahead of them.

“We believe we can learn some things from what happened,” he said. “We will get better.”

ULV fell to (11-6, 6-1) on the year and will face Simpson College (IA) at 7 p.m. tonight at Club West in La Verne. The Leopards will continue SCIAC action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Claremont.

Steven Falls can be reached at fallss@ulv.edu.

Steven Falls, Sports Editor
Steven Falls
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