Jacob Whannel
Staff Writer
The Leopards continued riding their mid-season wave at home Tuesday night, sweeping the Whittier Poets, 3-0.
Whittier was overwhelmed early by La Verne’s up-tempo play and struggled all night trying to establish any sort of attack on the Leopard’s defense.
The Leopards, however, stole the momentum from the beginning and did not let off the gas once, playing with great urgency and contagious confidence.
Tuesday night marked the eighth consecutive win for the Leopards, but even more impressive is the dominant fashion in which they have done so.
La Verne lost only one set of their eight game stretch, to defending national champion Cal Lutheran, achieving a remarkable 18-set win streak.
Playing at such level and having key players step up as playoffs approach, head coach Jenna Panatier said she does not have plans of letting up anytime soon.
The matchup against the Poets was the beginning of the second round of conference play, and Panatier was proud to expound on the steps her team has taken since its first conference game.
“The biggest difference I see from our first conference game to now is the confidence our girls are playing with,” Panatier said. “They are taking what they learn in practice and executing it during game time. From here out, every game is a playoff game. We need to be consistent and give ourselves chances to win games.”
Sophomore setter Natalie Barragan contributed in all three sets for the Leopards, racking up one ace and seven digs.
“I feel as if we just had to get a feel for playing with each other,” Barragan said.
“We have been practicing extremely hard these past couple of weeks, and it’s translated on game day. We’ve been playing with a chip on our shoulder since the beginning of the year, and we need to continue performing like we know we can consistently.”
Making her presence felt all over the court, senior setter Tiffany Mancuso contributed three aces and nine digs to the winning effort and displayed a sense of court leadership that did not go unnoticed.
“We need to approach every game as a must win,” Mancuso said.
“We need to still have the feeling that every team put in front of us has a chance of beating us. With the streak we are on we know everyone is going to give us their best that night.”
La Verne is now 16-4 overall and with a 7-2 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record, in second place alongside Cal Lutheran.
The Leopards will look to extend their streak Friday as they hit the road to face the Redlands Bulldogs at 7 p.m. in Currier Gym.
Jacob Whannel can be reached at jacob.whannel@laverne.edu.
Jacob Whannel
