No. 8 Women's Volleyball Takes Care of Beavers in Straight Sets

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 (25-8, 25-19, 25-21) victory over the Caltech Beavers on Friday night for their seventh-straight victory. The match allowed CMS to turn to their bench for production. Setter Jessica Lee (CMC) dished out a career-high 39 assists while Sarah Bruml (SC) led the attack with 10 kills and a blistering .692 hitting percentage. Playing as CMS' libero, Lina Aluzri (CMC) picked up 17 digs.

CMS set the tone early in the match with an overwhelming 25-8 victory in the opening set. The Athenas opened the match on a 12-2 run to take an early 10-point advantage. The run featured kills from five different players including a pair from both Bruml and Lauren Gode (CMC). The Athenas continued to grow their lead eventually ending the set on a kill from Bruml.

Despite the comfortable victory in the opening set, the Athenas had to battle in the second and third sets. While it felt as if CMS was in the driver's seat throughout the match, Caltech did have strong runs of play. The Beavers and Athenas stood even at 15-15 midway through the second set until the Athenas ended the set on a 10-4 run to take the second set 25-19.

The late second set run was fueled with points from six different players. Jenny Smith (HMC), Lee, Bruml, and Gode each collected a kill while Lauren Widasky (CMC) put down two and Megan Dymerski (HMC) earned a service ace.

Looking for their 12th sweep of the season, the Athenas jumped out to an early 7-2 lead in the third set. The Beavers would not go down easily and Caltech stormed back to tie the set at 11-11. The set remained even at 17-17, but CMS took control with a quick 5-2 run. Kills by Caltech's Isabell Yang and Alexa Lauinger made it a one-point margin at 22-21, but a pair of kills from Gode were sandwiched around a service ace from Linda Aluzri and the Athenas took the final three points to take the set 25-21.

In the sweep, the Athenas swung at a .314 clip compared to the .053 mark by the Beavers.

The Athenas move to 16-5 on the season and 9-1 in the SCAIC and will have a quick turnaround before taking the floor against UC Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon in Roberts Pavilion. Game time is slated for 2:00 p.m.