CMS Volleyball Dominates Its Home Floor Again, Sweeps Occidental in Three

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior Phoebe Madsen was one kill shy of a triple-double and closed out the match with three consecutive service aces as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team took a 3-0 home win over Occidental (25-10, 25-19, 25-8) on Tuesday evening at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, CMS moves its record to 15-3 overall and 6-1 in the SCIAC as the Athenas approach the midway point of the conference schedule. Occidental slips to 2-17 overall and 0-8 in league play with the loss. 

Senior Amanda Walker led CMS in kills with 12 in 24 attempts with only one error, hitting .458. Madsen had nine kills in 16 attempts without an error, hitting .562, and added 19 assists and 10 digs as she fell one kill shy of her fifth triple-double of the year. Senior libero Sarah Tritschler had 15 digs to lead the defense, along with four blocks (one solo) from junior middle Melanie Moore. 

CMS. which had a dominant 3-0 win over Caltech on Friday (25-11, 25-13, 25-10) and another at Roberts Pavilion over Whittier last Saturday (25-15, 25-14, 25-17), asserted itself on its home floor again right away, using a 9-0 run in the first set to take an 18-5 lead. First-year setter Spencer Hagenbuch started the run with a kill on a fake set, and Moore had a stretch with two straight blocks and a kill to account for three points in a row. After Occidental made the score 23-10, first-year hitters Sonia Bliss and Summer Ellis capped off the set with consecutive kills off of Madsen assists to give CMS a 1-0 lead. 

Occidental hung tough for most of the second set, taking a 10-7 lead at one point and staying within 17-16 before the Athenas were able to get some separation. A kill from first-year Izzy Sakoda put the Athenas ahead by two, and an ace from sophomore Emma Thompson pushed the lead to 20-16. After Occidental earned the next two points, junior Lucila Grinspan had a kill, Moore had an ace, and Madsen had a kill to give CMS a five-point lead. Walker then capped off the set with a kill to give CMS a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. 

VB: Amanda Walker with another kill to give the Athenas a 25-19 win in set 2.

CMS 2, Oxy 0#GoAthenas #GoCMS pic.twitter.com/bfpAWvRXTZ

— CMS Athletics (@AthleticsCMS) October 9, 2019

CMS didn't let Occidental hang around in the third set, using a 5-0 run to take an 8-3 lead and then adding a second 5-0 to push the run to 18-6 and a third 5-0 run to close out the match 25-8. After Bliss and Walker had kills in the final run to make it 22-8, Madsen closed out with three aces in a row, the last of which hit the tape and fell over the net where nobody could reach it. 

VB: Melanie Williams with the kill and the Athenas hold a 14-5 lead over Oxy in the 3rd set.

CMS 2, Oxy 0 pic.twitter.com/HsRD2p2MhQ

— CMS Athletics (@AthleticsCMS) October 9, 2019

The Athenas finished the match with a .333 hitting percentage, committing only eight errors in three sets and tallying 41 kills in 99 attempts. Occidental hit just .010, meanwhile, with 19 kills and 18 errors in 100 attempts. CMS earned 69 percent of its sideout opportunities, compared to 34 percent for the Tigers. 

CMS will next be in action when it closes out the first half of the SCIAC schedule with a road match at Pomona-Pitzer on Friday night at 7 p.m.