Athenas Cruise to Home Sweep of No. 14 La Verne

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's volleyball team dismantled the No. 14 La Verne Leopards on Friday night in a 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-12) sweep in front of their home crowd in Roberts Pavilion. Led by Margot Mafra Spencer (SC) and her nine kills, five different Athenas finished with at least six kills. As a team, CMS finished with 40 kills and an impressive .368 hitting percentage in the match.

Defensively, the Athenas finished with a season-high 24 total blocks. The trio of Mariah Rigg (CMC), Margaux Arntson (CMC), and Melanie Moore (CMC) led the block party joining in on six blocks each.

The match opened with the Athenas dropping three of the first five points to fall into an early 3-2 hole. A five-point run for CMS would give the home team a 7-3 advantage and the Athenas would not trail the rest of the night. The early streak featured two kills from Margot Mafra Spencer, a kill from Melanie Moore, and an ace from Mikena Werner (SC).

The Leopards closed the gap to as few as two points and later trailed 13-10, but a 10-4 run for the Athenas would put the set away and CMS rolled to the 25-16 victory in the opening set. Moore had a hand in the final two points of the set. First, she assisted Margaux Arntson on a block before she sent home the kill to finish the set off a pass from Phoebe Madsen (CMC).

The second set was much of the same for the Athenas. CMS held a, slim, 9-6 lead before exploding for an 8-0 run to take control of the set at 17-6. Arntson collected three of her seven kills in the match during the stretch.

CMS' lead would not drop below double-digits for the remainder of the set and the Athenas went on to take the game 25-12. With all the momentum, the Athenas rolled into the third set and quickly built a 13-4 lead with runs of 6-1 and 7-0.

The lead was too much for the Leopards to overcome and the Athenas went on for the 25-12 victory in the set and a 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-12) sweep in the match. Melanie Moore and Margot Mafra Spencer put the cherry on top of the victory with a block on the final point.

The Athenas' height was a problem for the Leopards all night. As mentioned, CMS finished the match with 40 kills on a .368 hitting percentage while the Leopards put down just 21 kills and swung at a .025 clip. La Verne finished the night with two blocks compared to the season-high 24 blocks from the Athenas.

With a SCIAC win, CMS improves to 9-4 overall and 2-0 in the SCIAC, while the Leopards fall to 8-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

CMS will be back in action tomorrow night when they travel to Chapman for a showdown between the only undefeated teams in the SCIAC at 6:00 p.m.