Justin Ries
Staff Writer
The La Verne volleyball team beat Chapman in a tight match Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Athletics Pavilion and won, 3-1.
Early on in the first set, the teams went back and forth, with neither team giving an inch. Tough net presence from La Verne’s senior opposite Alanna Jones and senior outside hitter Lauren Gott helped create some momentum and separation from Chapman, forcing them to call an early timeout in the set.
“Our team has kind of struggled with coming from behind and playing back and forth, and tonight we really showed that we have been working on that,” head coach Randi Taylor-Toomay said.
After the timeout, La Verne went on a 5-1 run, making the score 13-4, which caused Chapman to use their last time out of the set.
Chapman challenged a call, which is new to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this year. They challenged a net violation that happened early on in the rally and won the call, making the score 17-9 La Verne.
La Verne, looking to go up 24-16, used one of their challenges. They lost the challenge, so the score remained 23-17.
La Verne won the first set, 25-20, off a kill by sophomore outside hitter Allison Mason.
The second set started back and forth as well. La Verne started to pull ahead with a 15-10 lead, forcing Chapman to use a timeout to try to slow the Leopards’ momentum down.
Despite the timeout, the Leopards scored the next three points with kills from Gott and Jones, and a service ace by freshman setter Jordyn McCoy, making the score 18-10 for La Verne.
Digs by McCoy and Gott kept a rally alive, eventually earning La Verne the point to put them in the lead, 22-11.
La Verne won the second set off their kills, service aces and capitalizing on Chapman’s errors, 25-13.
The Leopards started off strong in the third set, winning the first two points. Chapman responded with a 6-1 run, forcing La Verne to use their first timeout early in the third set.
Senior middle blocker Zacky Coaston and junior middle blocker Mariah Ray got back-to-back blocks together for the Leopards to cut into Chapman’s lead, making the score 8-4.
“I try to do my best to protect our back row, and they try their best to protect me and make sure we are there for each other in that way,” Coaston said.
It was not enough as Chapman dominated the third set, 25-13, forcing a fourth set.
La Verne fell behind 3-0 early in the fourth set, but then went on an 8-2 run to make the score 8-5.
“We did leave the third set behind, and we got back to the game plan,” Taylor-Toomay said.
A kill by Mason, assisted by McCoy, gave the Leopards a 19-17 lead.
“Feeling the trust from my teammates, it does not feel like pressure when it is coming from them,” McCoy said.
“The best part is just turning around after that giant kill; you just have your whole team, just excited for you,” Mason said.
After an attacker error by Chapman, La Verne went up, 21-17.
La Verne won set four, 25-20, off a service ace by McCoy, winning the match, 3-1.
“I am excited for that because I just want to see how it goes with our new confidence and our new flow,” Coaston said.
Prior to the match, the volleyball team honored local first responders in La Verne, giving them recognition for their help during the evacuation following the lithium battery fire at the Metropolitan Water District treatment plant last week.
La Verne moves to 5-5 on the season and 2-1 in SCIAC play. La Verne will face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Athletics Pavilion.
Justin Ries can be reached at justin.ries@laverne.edu.
Justin Ries is a junior journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism, and is a staff writer for the Campus Times.
