CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior libero Dede Carranza tied the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps all-time career digs record to temporarily keep match point alive, but the La Verne volleyball team was able to finish off a win on its next swing to take a 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 win in the SCIAC Tournament finals on Saturday evening at Roberts Pavilion. 

With the win, La Verne improves to 23-5 overall and earns the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. CMS sees its record slip to 21-6, and sees its streak of six straight SCIAC Tournament titles come to an end, but the Athenas still stand in strong shape to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when bids are announced on Monday. 

Carranza had 26 digs to pull even with Megan Coleman (2011-14) with 2121 in her career atop the CMS leaderboard. The Athenas had fought off three match points to get to within 24-22, with two points coming on blocks with setter Georgia McGovern (along with middles Dani Beder and Solvej Eversoll). After a timeout, Ashley Murashige and Carranza both had big digs off strong swings from the Leopards to keep CMS in it temporarily, but Lauren Gott was able to end it on the Leopards' third try. 

The match swung in the second set, when CMS led 18-12 and seemed poised to get back level after the Leopards won the first set 25-23. However, Gott had two kills and a block and Zacky Coaston had a kill and a block to key an 8-0 run, which was capped off by a Madison Smith ace to put the Leopards ahead 20-18. Shae Delany stopped the run with a kill, but La Verne kept the momentum going and finished off the set with a 25-20 win on an Allison Whiteman kill. 

That momentum carried over into the third, as La Verne roared out to a 10-3 lead and appeared ready to roll to the sweep, but the Athenas dug down and fought their way back in it. Delany had a kill and Brenna Bell had a kill and a block to close the lead to 10-6, before the Leopards responded with three straight points for a 13-6 lead.  

Brooke McKee had a kill to get CMS within 14-11, and accounted for six straight Athena points with kills to keep the match close at 19-16. Tournament MVP Mya Ray had two straight kills to stretch the margin to 21-16, and the final comeback for the Athenas came up two points short. 

McKee finished with 17 kills, tying Ray for match-high honors. Bell added 10 kills on 18 attempts, hitting .500, and McGovern finished with 39 assists. Smith had 18 digs for La Verne, and Coaston had four blocks. 

CMS will await NCAA selections on Monday as it tries to get back to the national tournament, where it advanced through to the NCAA Semifinals a year ago, which were held at Roberts Pavilion.