CLAREMONT, Calif. -
Phoebe Shorney had 12 kills in 19 attempts, hitting .579, and
Ashlee Sento added 11 kills in 22 attempts (.364) as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team earned a 25-19, 25-15, 25-15 win over Azusa Pacific on Tuesday evening in its regular season home finale at Roberts Pavilion.
Azusa Pacific came in with a 24-4 record, including a five-set win over CMS in the first meeting, but the Athenas responded with one of its best efforts of the season to earn the straight-set sweep and improve to 14-10 on the season.
Stella Gajar added nine blocks for CMS defensively, while
Skye Dunn had 12 digs.
Hayden Lin (23) and
Samantha Riter (14) combined for 37 assists as CMS hit .316 as a team.
The first set was tight most of the way, but CMS used a timely 3-0 run to turn a 20-17 lead into a 23-17 advantage. Shorney and
Sabine Kemos combined on a block, Dunn had an ace, and Gajar and
Ari Clarkson finished the run with a block. Shorney had a kill to make it 24-18 and Gajar finished the set with a kill at 25-19.
The second set saw CMS pull away with a 6-0 run to turn a 15-13 lead into a 21-13 advantage. Gajar started the run with a kill, and finished it with three blocks in a row, combining with
Lauren Staples on the first two and Sento on the final one. Gajar and Sento then combined on another block to make it 22-14, and the Athenas closed on a 3-0 run that included a Sento kill and a Lin ace.
The Athenas then ran away with the third set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead on a Shorney kill, and then using an 8-0 run to move ahead 14-2 on a Dunn ace, with
Ari Clarkson recording three kills during the run. The Cougars managed three straight points to delay the end of the match and close to 24-15, but Shorney finished it off with a kill from Lin.
CMS will return to action on Saturday when it closes out the regular season at Caltech, and will then play a semifinal match next Thursday against either Cal Lutheran or Whittier.
