CLAREMONT, Calif. - Dede Carranza had 35 digs, including 31 over the final three sets, and Georgia McGovern (49 assists, 12 digs), Brooke McKee (19 kills, 11 digs) and Ashlee Sento (16 kills, 10 digs) all had double-doubles as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team bounced back after dropping the first set to take a 21-25, 25-13, 25-20, 25-21 win over Cal Lutheran on Tuesday evening at Roberts Pavilion. 

With the win, CMS moves to 17-4 overall and 11-1 in the SCIAC, setting up a big matchup at La Verne on Friday, which swept Redlands to move to 9-2 on the year. The Leopards defeated CMS in the first meeting and could pull even in the loss column with the tiebreaker if they can pull off the season sweep. Cal Lutheran falls to 9-11 overall and 4-7 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

Carranza was just three shy of her career high in digs, which she set when she had 38 in a five-set win over Wartburg in the 2021 NCAA Regional Finals. She now has 1,988 in her career, leaving her 12 shy of becoming just the second player in CMS history to record 2000 in a career, joining program record-holder Megan Coleman (2121). McGovern, meanwhile, added her 197th career ace, passing Caroline Vlasis (196 from 1993-96) for the top spot in the Athena record books. Sento reached double figures in kills for the first time in her rookie season with 16, doubling her previous high of eight set against Whittier on Friday. 

CMS looked like it was going to get off to a fast start after jumping out to a 6-1 lead in the first set, but the Regals came all the way back to take an 11-10 lead. The Athenas went ahead 17-14 on a kill from Sento, but the Regals rattled off seven points in a row to pull ahead 21-17 and took a 25-21 win for a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Athenas bounced back to dominate the second set 25-13, with Carranza tallying 13 digs, after just four in the opening set. An early 5-0 run behind three Sento kills put CMS up 10-4, and Dani Beder capped off a 5-0 run to put CMS ahead 21-10, before the Athenas took it 25-13 to even the match. 

The third and fourth sets were both tight until CMS was able to get late separation. The Regals went ahead 17-16 in the second set before CMS had four straight points, the last two coming on McKee kills, to go ahead 20-17. Cal Lutheran kept it within 22-20, but CMS got the last three points in a row on a McKee kill, a Carranza ace, and a Sento kill. 

CMS built an early five-point lead in the fourth set at 9-4 after three Carranza aces in a row, before Cal Lutheran came back to tie it 17-17. Brenna Bell started a 4-0 run with a kill that was capped by a Sento kill. The Regals got the next two points to get back within 21-19, but Sento had an ace and McKee had a kill in a 3-0 run that made it 24-19, and CMS was able to take it 25-21 on a Cal Lutheran service error. 

Bell finished with nine kills, Beder had eight and Solvej Eversoll chipped in with six, as the Athenas showed strong balance offensively. CMS had 62 kills, compared to 32 for the Regals, as the Athenas had 82 digs total on the match. 

CMS will be back in action at home on Saturday against Redlands at 4 p.m., after first heading to La Verne for a battle for first in the SCIAC on Friday evening at 7 p.m.