ORANGE, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team was nearly pushed to a fifth set by Chapman, but was able to come away with a 26-24 win in the fourth to earn a 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon at the Hutton Sports Center. 

Set scores were 25-16, 24-26, 25-19, 26-24 as CMS moves to 16-4 overall and 10-1 in the SCIAC, keeping the Athenas in first place in the league standings. Chapman slips to 10-12 overall and 5-6 in conference play. 

Brooke McKee had a career-high 21 kills for CMS, passing her previous high of 20 set earlier this year against Cal Lutheran, while middles Solvej Eversoll (11) and Dani Beder (10) were each in double figures. Georgia McGovern had 53 assists and 13 digs for the Athenas, while Dede Carranza had 26 digs. 

CMS used a 3-0 run, capped by a McKee ace, to go ahead 23-22 in the fourth set, before two straight kills from Olivia Sampson gave Chapman a set point at 24-23. Shae Delany erased the set point with an unassisted kill, and then gave CMS a match point with a kill off a McGovern assist. Carranza then came through with a clutch ace on match point to give the Athenas the hard fought win. 

Early on, CMS appeared to be cruising their way to a sweep, jumping out to a 20-8 lead in the first set before winning 25-16, and then pulling ahead 10-5 in the second. Chapman hung in, but CMS was able to take a 24-20 lead and earn four set points, before the Panthers roared back with six points in a row to take a 26-24 win and level the match at a set apiece. 

The third set was tied 16-16 before CMS was able to get some separation with four of the next five points, including an ace from Ashley Murashige, and kills from McKee and McGovern. Eversoll then had a kill and a block in a 3-0 run to get the lead to 23-18, and McGovern capped off the set with an ace to put CMS ahead 2-1. 

CMS will be back in action on Tuesday when it hosts Cal Lutheran at 7 p.m., before heading to La Verne on Friday night for a potentially big matchup. The Leopards handed CMS its only league loss, and is currently one game behind the Athenas, giving them a chance to pull even (with the tiebreaker) if they can defend their home court,