Donya Rouzbehi
Staff Writer
The women’s volleyball team won their match against Whittier on Monday with another sweep, remaining undefeated.
Whittier scored the first point of the match during the first set. The first kill was made by senior outside hitter Mya Ray for the Leopards, putting them 1-1 on the board.
Throughout the first set, the Leopards led with back-to-back kills. The set ended with a fifth kill made by Ray, 25-10.
The Leopards kept it up with a strong offense and continuous kills. Ray made a kill after scoring the first point of the second set. Senior libero Keilani Mumolo was on the service line making continuous serves.
The Leopards lead the second set 19-13 after the timeout. The Poets slowly made their way back up to tie the game.
Ray powered through the Poets’ blocks to make her fifth kill and the Leopards took the second set, 25-16.
“When we had those cool rallies back and forth in the second set, our libero (Mumolo) got that kick save over, which was a big turning point,” junior opposite Abigail Montana said.
Ray and junior middle blocker Zacky Coaston blocked an attempted kill by the Poets, scoring the first point of the third set for the Leopards.
Following a timeout, a huge rally continued back and forth between the Leopards and Poets with the score at 23-22. With a tight third set, junior outside hitter Lauren Gott finally scored for the Leopards, ending the rally, 23-23.
The long rallies during the tight third set caused suspense and excitement in the Tents, with people on the edge of their seats on both sides.
Nearing the end of the match, Whittier made an out of bound kill resulting in a point for the Leopards, leading 25-24. Ray made a kill from the right side.
The Poets scored again, tying the game 26-26 until Ray made another kill, scoring for the Leopards, 27-26, which was her 18th kill.
“I feel like we always come out with the intent that we’re going to take care of business and win, and we’re good enough to do so,” Mumolo said. “But, I think for sure within the last five points, we knew we were going to win that set.”
Gott ended the rally with a tight back set, resulting in a win for the Leopards, 28-26, in the third set, and a sweep of the Poets.
“I feel like all of our work we’ve been putting into practice in pre-season, it’s all paying off,” Ray said. “We just keep pushing to get to that postseason.”
The Leopards are on an 18-match winning streak so far and have remained undefeated this season. Head coach Jeff Hendershot has encouraged his team to take it day by day.
“The streak doesn’t matter. It’s just coming out here,” Hendershot said. “Doing what we got to do every single day. Our conversation is, if we do what we can do and we work hard, that will take care of itself.”
La Verne is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in the American Volleyball Coaches Association/Taraflex Division III weekly poll.
They will have their next match at 7 p.m. Friday at Pomona-Pitzer.
Donya Rouzbehi can be reached at donya.rouzbehi@laverne.edu.
Donya Rouzbehi is a senior journalism major with a concentration in print/online journalism, and staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. She has previously served as sports editor and a staff writer for the Campus Times, and is co-editor-in-chief of La Verne Magazine. Her other writing can be found at trillmag.com/author/donya-rouzbehi
Jesse Juarez is a senior photography major and a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine. A camera has been a very powerful tool and a vessel of expression for him. While originally focused on portraits and fashion photography, his work is continuously evolving. His other work can be found at jessejxo199x.edublogs.org.
