Izzy Sakoda action shot
Izzy Sakoda led CMS with 14 kills

CMS Volleyball Improves to 11-0 With Sweep of Caltech

PASADENA, Calif. – The second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team won its fourth straight 3-0 match in SCIAC play, sweeping Caltech on the road on Tuesday evening to improve to 11-0 on the year.

Set scores were 25-18, 25-12, 25-20 as CMS extended its season-opening win streak to 11, including 3-0 league wins over Whittier, La Verne, Cal Lutheran and Caltech, while the Beavers, who pushed the Athenas in the third set (leading 17-14 at one point), fall to 6-5 on the year and 1-2 in conference play.

Izzy Sakoda helped set the tone early for the Athenas, recording kills on three of the first four CMS points and adding a service ace to make the score 6-2 in the first set. A Jenna Holmes ace pushed the CMS lead to 13-5, and Caltech was able to claw back as close as four points at 17-13, before Melanie Williams had two straight kills to help CMS pull away for a 25-18 win, with Sakoda ending with six kills in the opening set.

In the second set, Holmes had four kills in an early 6-0 run, along with a pair of Dede Carranza service aces, as the Athenas turned a 4-3 lead into a commanding 10-3 advantage. Once again, the Beavers clawed closer, cutting the lead to 12-8, before Sakoda answered with a kill and Audrey Sawyer followed with an ace to swing the momentum back to CMS. Sawyer had back-to-back kills to make it 24-12, and Spencer Hagenbuch capped off the set with an ace for a 25-12 win and a 2-0 lead.

Unlike the first two sets, CMS had to play from behind in the third, as Caltech got the early advantage with a 6-2 lead. Isabel Yau-Weeks had two straight service aces to cap a 3-0 run and get the Athenas back to within 6-5, but the Beavers surged ahead 13-7 before CMS was able to pull back even at 14-14 on a Williams kill. Caltech responded with the next three points, but the Athenas came right back to tie it again at 18-18 on the third Yau-Weeks ace of the set.  

After a Caltech timeout, Williams had a kill to give the Athenas their first lead of the third set, and Yau-Weeks added another ace. Alison Noyes had a kill to get Caltech within 22-20, but Sawyer, Sakoda and Brenna Bell had three straight kills to cap off the match and the sweep.

CMS had another efficient day as a team, hitting .375 with 49 kills and 10 errors, and adding 12 service aces, led by the four from Yau-Weeks. Sakoda led with 14 kills, while Holmes had 12 on .458 hitting, with only one error in 24 attempts, and Georgia McGovern had 32 assists. Dede Carranza led the defense with 13 digs.

CMS will be back in action on Friday night when it returns home to face Redlands for a 7 p.m. first serve, before capping off another three-match SCIAC week at Occidental on Saturday.