PASADENA, Calif. –
Lauren Staples had 12 kills and
Solvej Eversoll was 6-for-7 attacking with six blocks as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team closed out the regular season with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-22 win over Caltech on Saturday afternoon at Braun Gymnasium.
With the win, CMS enters postseason play with a 15-10 overall record and a 9-4 mark in SCIAC play, securing the third seed in next week's SCIAC Tournament, and will open up at either Whittier or Cal Lutheran on Thursday for the semifinals. Caltech falls to 6-18 overall and 2-12 in conference play.
Shae Delany ended the match with 999 career digs after tallying 11 digs and nine kills.
Samantha Riter also had 15 assists, giving her 994 in her career heading into the SCIAC Tournament.
In the first set, CMS used a 4-0 run to turn a 10-8 lead into a 14-8 advantage, capped off by a
Hayden Lin service ace. Caltech got back within 16-12, but Eversoll and
Ashlee Sento had back-to-back kills to make it 18-12, and the Athenas closed on a 5-0 run to take the set 25-14 on a Delany kill.
Lauren Staples started the second set with two straight kills, and then Eversoll had two straight blocks to make it 5-1. A 7-0 run featuring two Sento aces and two Delany kills stretched the lead to 15-4.
Quincy Rodin then finished off a 25-11 set with two straight kills.
Caltech went ahead 8-3 in the third set, but
Anna Ryan had a kill and Delany had two straight to get the Athenas back within 9-8, and an Eversoll block put CMS up 13-12. Caltech knotted it 20-20, but Riter had a kill to put the Athenas back in front and Delany added one to make it a 22-20 score.
Anna Ryan's kill made it 23-21, and Eversoll finished it off with a kill.
Elise Arends led CMS with 17 digs, while
Hayden Lin had 17 assists. Eversoll's six blocks now give her 124 this season, the highest total for an Athena since 1993.
CMS will enter the SCIAC Tournament hoping to earn its way back to the NCAA Tournament, after reaching the NCAAs with a five-set win over La Verne in the conference championship match a year ago.
