CMS Volleyball Makes Quick Work of Caltech, Captures 3-0 Sweep

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's volleyball team bounced back from its first conference loss of the season by dominating the match from start to finish, taking a 25-11, 25-13, 25-10 win over Caltech on Friday evening at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, CMS improves to 14-3 overall and 5-1 in the SCIAC, after suffering its first league defeat on the road at Chapman on Tuesday night. Caltech, meanwhile, slips to 6-8 overall and 2-4 in conference play. 

First-year outside hitter Summer Ellis played the final two sets and recorded 10 kills in 16 attempts without an error for a .625 hitting percentage. Junior middle hitter Melanie Moore was nearly perfect, tallying eight kills in nine attempts for am .889 percentage, while sophomore outside hitter Melanie Williams added five kills in 12 attempts. 

Caltech came into the day with two league wins already this year, defeating Whittier and Occidental, after having only one SCIAC win in its entire conference history prior to this season. The much-improved Beavers picked the wrong day to meet the Athenas, though, who were reeling after letting a 2-0 lead slip away on Tuesday night and looking to restore some of their dominant play. 

With the score 7-6 in the first set, CMS went into overdrive and went on a big 11-1 run to take an 18-7 lead. First-year setter Spencer Hagenbuch had three aces during the run, and Moore capped it off with an unassisted kill off an overpass. First-year middle hitter Kara Cato finished off the 25-11 win with a kill to give CMS a 1-0 lead. 

CMS went ahead 13-5 in the second set on a Moore kill, and went ahead by 10 points at 16-6 on a kill from first-year outside hitter Izzy Sakoda. Caltech got back within 19-12, but CMS closed out on a 6-1 run for a 25-13 win and a 2-0 lead. 

The Athenas didn't let Caltech off the mat in the third set, taking a 13-4 lead early and extending it to 19-6 on a block from Williams and Moore. The first-years then helped finish off the match Sakoda had two straight kills to make it 22-9, Sonia Bliss combined with junior Regan Dinovitz on a block, and Ellis capped off a 25-10 win with a kill off an assist from Hagenbuch. 

CMS will be back in action on Tuesday night when it hosts Occidental for a 7 p.m. contest.