Athenas Wrap-Up First Half Play with Win Over Oxy

CMS Volleyball finished the first round of SCIAC play with a win over Occidental College Tuesday night at Ducey Gym. The Athenas went ahead 7-4 in the first set off the serve of freshman right side attacker, Kelly Halamek (Palo Alto, CA). Steadily increasing that lead, CMS was ahead 23-18 when Occidental went on its biggest run of the match, tying the score at 23-23. CMS called a timeout and converted the subsequent point, before Emily Hudson (So., South Pasadena) sealed the win with an outside kill, 25-23. Set two was similarly close, with the Tigers and Athenas trading points throughout. CMS finally opened up a 5 point lead at 17-12 and a pair of blocks by senior middle blocker, Jamie Matusiak (Tucson, AZ) helped carry the momentum to win 25-20. The third set played much the same way. Hudson and Halamek were excellent, combining for 6 critical kills. Halamek finished the night with 11 kills, hitting .455. Freshman middle blocker, Megan Levonian was also strong, picking up 3 of her eventual 7 kills in set three en route to a .636 hitting performance. CMS closed the match out 25-21.

 Jessica Waggoner (Jr., Scottsdale, AZ) led both teams defensively with 33 digs, while Taylor Jones (Fr., Scottsdale, AZ) notched 41 assists in the effort.

 The Athenas begin the second round of SCIAC play on Friday night when they head across the street to take on conference rival, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. Match time is 7:30 pm.