CMS Volleyball Earns 20th Win of Season, Sweeps Caltech in Three

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team cruised to first and set wins around a tight battle in the second as it took a 3-0 win over Caltech for its 20th win of the 2018 season on Saturday afternoon at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, the Athenas now stand at 20-3 this season (after a 31-5 campaign last year on their way to a national title) and 11-1 in the SCIAC, maintaining a two-game lead in the loss column for the SCIAC title with four matches left. Caltech, which recently took Pomona-Pitzer to five sets and Cal Lutheran to four, falls to 3-20 overall and 0-14 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Widasky was the lone Athena in double figures in kills with 10, while middle Linden Conrad had eight kills in 14 attempts, while also tallying six blocks. Freshman Melanie Williams also had eight kills, while junior setter Phoebe Madsen had 21 assists, eight digs and six kills in eight attempts. Junior captain Isabelle Taylor (pictured), a starter in last year's national championship match, also saw action for the first time this season after missing the first 22 matches with an injury and contributed four kills. 

CMS trailed most of the way in the second set before a 4-0 run put it ahead 19-17. Caltech came back to win the next two points to tie it, but Williams put the Athenas ahead to stay with a kill, which was followed by a block from Widasky and Conrad. Conrad added a kill to make it 23-19, and Widasky finished it off with a kill for a 25-20 win. 

The third set saw the Athenas take control with a 6-1 run, capped off by a kill from sophomore Margot Mafra Spencer, to take a 15-7 lead. A Madsen kill made it 22-12, which was followed by a kill from sophomore middle Regan Dinovitz, and after a Caltech point, Dinovitz put down an unassisted kill off an overpass to finish off the match. 

CMS quickly took control in the first set with a 9-0 run to take a 10-3 lead after Caltech scored three of the match's first four points. Conrad had a kill and three blocks during the run, which was capped off by a Williams kill. The Athenas built the lead up to as many as 13 points at 20-7 and finished off a 25-13 win on a Conrad kill. 

CMS is back in action on Tuesday and Wednesday for back-to-back road games, taking on Occidental and Pomona-Pitzer as it continues on its busy closing stretch of six matches in nine days. The Athenas will host their home finale on Friday against Whittier at 7 p.m., but there will be no Senior Day ceremonies, as CMS doesn't have any seniors on the roster this year as it tries to defend its 2017 national title.