Efficient Offense Carries CMS Volleyball to Three-Set Sweep of Occidental

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Sophomore middle Melanie Moore hit .727 (8-of-11 with no errors) and freshman outside hitter Jackie Jones hit .526 (12-of-19 with two errors) as the No. 5-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team remained the only unbeaten team in the SCIAC with a 3-0 home win (25-16, 25-12, 25-19) over Occidental on Friday evening at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, the Athenas now stand at 13-2 overall on the season and 4-0 in league play after their third straight 3-0 win. CMS had won six of its first 10 matches in a full five sets (with three others in four sets), but have swept Redlands, Caltech and Occidental consecutively to break the trend of nail-biters. Occidental slips to 3-9 overall and 0-6 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

As a team, CMS hit .375 on the day, with sophomore outside hitter Lucila Grinspan adding a .412 day (9-2-17) and junior opposite Amanda Walker chipping in with a .368 hitting percentage (8-1-19). As a team, the Athenas had only nine errors in three sets, compated to 45 kills. 

Occidental was within 13-9 in the first set, before the Athenas broke it open with an 8-2 run, capped off by a block from Moore and Walker. A Moore kill made it 23-13, and Jones finished off the set with a kill at 24-16 to give the Athenas the 1-0 lead. 

The second set also saw CMS hold a 13-9 lead, before a 7-0 run blew it wide open. Junior setter Phoebe Madsen had two aces during the run, and sophomore middle Regan Dinovitz had a hand in a pair of blocks. Walker then had an assist on a Grinspan kill to make it 23-12, and after an ace from junior libero Sarah Tritschler, Walker had an unassisted kill off an overpass to give CMS the 2-0 lead. 

The third set was the closest as Occidental was tied at 14-14, before Grinspan had two straight kills followed by a block from Moore to put the Athenas in front 17-15 and force an Occidental timeout. The Tigers had a 3-0 run to close to within 23-19, but Jones stopped the run with her 12th kill, and a ball-handling error finished it off. 

Tritschler had a solid day defensively for the Athenas with 18 digs, while Grinspan had 12. Madsen and sophomore setter Jessica Lee each had 15 assists, while Madsen finished with five aces. 

The Athenas are right back in action tomorrow when they travel to Whittier for another SCIAC contest, beginning at 6 p.m.