Kevin Garrity
Managing Editor
The La Verne volleyball team swept past conference foe Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 3-0, Saturday night in front of its home crowd at Frantz Athletic Court.
“We played a solid and consistent match throughout,” head coach Marlon Sano said. “People who went to the match saw the type of team we truly are.”
The Leopards jumped out on fire in the first set, opening up a 7-1 lead, behind a dominant performance from senior Crista Jones.
The Athenas could not find an answer early on and ULV was able to put away six of the last seven points to secure the win, 25-11.
The second set featured both teams trading serves until La Verne scored five consecutive points served by junior Chelsea Sleight to increase its lead to 14-9.
The Leopards never let the Athenas back into the match, closing out the second set on nine consecutive points.
The third set was no different, the Leopards won the set 25-12 and completed the sweep in only 54 minutes.
“We were able to maintain consistency throughout the game,” Jones said. “We had good energy and played our game.”
Jones led both sides with 17 kills while Kendall Kraiss had a match-high 15 assists.
“A lot of players did well today,” Sano said. “We didn’t press, we just played.”
The Leopards continued conference play Tuesday night against Redlands with a 3-2 loss.
“We started off the match really strong,” Jones said. “The little things caught up to us and prevented us from winning the fourth and fifth sets.”
La Verne’s Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record stands at 4-3, which is good for fifth place.
“Everybody in this conference has improved,” Sano said. “It is possible that two or three teams from our conference will make it to the national championship.”
“We need to continue to improve,” Sleight said. “Not only for this tournament, but for future games.”
La Verne will host the Leopard Invitational Friday and Saturday at Frantz Athletic Court. The Leopards’ first game will be today against Nazareth at 2 p.m. and then take on Wisconsin-Whitewater at 7 p.m.
Kevin Garrity can be reached at kevin.garrity@laverne.edu.
