ORANGE, Calif. - Mason Spencer had 14 saves to help the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's water polo team build a 7-1 lead late in the third quarter, and the Athenas held off a late Chapman rally to pick up a 9-7 road win on Wednesday evening. 

With the win, CMS moves to 7-8 overall on the season, and opens up conference play with a win, while Chapman falls to 2-8 on the year with the loss. 

Valerie Wraith had three goals and one assist, and Grace Clark had two goals and three assists to lead the CMS offense, while Isabel Del Villar and Caitlin Muñoz each tallied two goals and an assist. 

Wraith scored two goals in a game-opening 4-0 run, starting the game off with a goal 14 seconds in. Del Villar added one at the 1:03 mark to make it 2-0, and after Wraith scored her second, Clark found the back of the net to give CMS a 4-0 lead just 3:12 into the contest. 

After Chapman got back to within 4-1 just 20 seconds later, Wraith scored the only goal of the second quarter to give CMS a 5-1 lead going into halftime. Clark and Muñoz started off the second half with goals to put CMS ahead 7-1, before the Panthers ended a 19-minute scoring drought with 1:20 left in the third. 

Del Villar put CMS back ahead 8-3 with 6:55 left, and after Chapman got back within 8-5, Muñoz scored with 1:56 left to effectively seal it. Chapman added two more goals to make the final score 9-7. Muñoz added three steals for the Athenas defensively, while Spencer added three as well. 

CMS will be back in action when it travels to Occidental on Saturday for an 11 a.m. contest.