CMS team huddle

Chapman Comes Back from 2-0 Down to Hand CMS Volleyball First SCIAC Loss

ORANGE, Calif. - The Chapman Volleyball team dropped the first two sets but came back to hand No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps its first SCIAC loss of the season, taking the fifth set 15-10 for a 3-2 win over the Athenas on Tuesday evening.

Set scores were 14-25, 25-27, 25-14, 25-17, 15-10. The loss drops CMS to 13-3 overall and 4-1 in the SCIAC, while the Panthers take over sole possession of first place at 12-2 overall and 5-0 in league play.  

CMS cruised to a 25-14 first-set win and had a comfortable 22-15 lead in the second set before Chapman rallied to earn a set point at 25-24. Dinovitz had a kill to erase the set point, then had another to put the Athenas in front. Walker then finished off the set with a tip kill to give CMS a 27-25 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. 

Chapman, though, carried the momentum of its comeback into the third set and roared out to leads of 10-4 and 15-6. CMS got back within 20-14, but Chapman rattled off the final five points in a row for a 25-14 win and cut the CMS lead to 2-1. 

The fourth set saw two straight Walker kills have the Athenas within 16-14, but with the score still 19-16, Chapman rattled off five points in a row for a 24-16 lead. After a kill from senior Phoebe Madsen fought off one set point, Jessi Lumsden had a kill to level the match at 2-2. 

CMS took an 8-7 lead at the fifth-set changeover after a service ace from sophomore Makenna Fall, but the Panthers went on a 7-1 run, with the only CMS point coming on a Chapman service error, to go ahead 14-9. Dinovitz had a kill to make it 14-10, but the Panthers finished off the win with a block from Mavis Lui and Nayelli Munoz. 

Junior Lucila Grinspan led the Athenas with 14 kills, while junior Amanda Walker added 11. Senior libero Sarah Tritschler totaled 26 digs and junior middle Regan Dinovitz had seven blocks to lead the defense. Lumsden led all players with 18 kills for Chapman, which held CMS to a season-low .119 hitting percentage.

The Athenas will be back in action on Friday when they host Caltech for a 7 p.m. contest.