LA VERNE, Calif. - Dede Carranza became the second player in Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball history to reach 2000 career digs with 32, as the Athenas rallied back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to earn a huge 3-2 win at La Verne on Friday evening at the La Verne Sports Pavilion. 

Set scores were 26-28, 25-19, 20-25, 15-13, 15-10 as CMS takes control of the regular season title in the SCIAC at 16-4 overall and 12-1 in league play, a two-game lead over La Verne with just three to play. The Leopards, who would have moved into a tie for first place with the Athenas with the tiebreaker with a win, falls to 17-5 overall and 9-3 in the league. 

Carranza came into the day with 1988 digs, and recorded 32 to move up to 2020 in her career, leaving her 101 shy of the CMS record held by Megan Coleman. Brooke McKee had 21 kills and the match-winning ace up 14-10 in the fifth, while Georgia McGovern had 52 assists. 

After dominating the fourth set 25-13 to pull even, the Athenas took the first two points of the fifth set, with McKee starting it off with a kill. CMS then earned a big 4-0 run to go ahead 7-2, with Shae Delany capping it off with two straight kills. La Verne pulled back within 13-10, but Bell had a kill to give the Athenas match point, and McKee finished it off with an ace. 

The Athenas dropped the first set 28-26 in extra points, but jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set on a Bell kill. Another 4-0 run, ending with a kill from Dani Beder, made it 15-8, and CMS built the lead up to as many as 10 points (21-11) before settling for a 25-19 win  

CMS trailed 21-18 in the first set but rattled off five points in a row for a 23-21 lead. La Verne regrouped to take the next three, but McKee fought off a set point with a kill and Solvej Eversoll followed with another to put the Athenas up 25-24. Eversoll had another kill for a 26-25 lead, but the Leopards took the next three points on two kills and a block from Mya Ray ro earn the set. 

McKee added 17 digs to go with her 21 kills, while Delany also had a double-double with 12 kills and 15 digs, while McGoern had 14 digs to go with her 52 assists. 

CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it hosts Redlands for a 4 p.m. contest at Roberts Pavilion.