Jenna Holmes action shot
Jenna Holmes had 13 digs to go with her 16 kills

CMS Volleyball Drops First SCIAC Set, But Bounces Back for 3-1 Win

CLAREMONT, Calif. - After winning its first 31 sets against SCIAC teams this season, the second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team dropped the second set to Caltech, but the Athenas regrouped to win the final two sets to remain undefeated on the year with a 25-16, 16-25, 25-19, 25-8 win.

Jenna Holmes had 16 kills and Melanie Williams had 14 for the Athenas, who move to 18-0 overall and 11-0 in SCIAC play this season. Caltech, which was coming off of 3-0 sweeps of Redlands and Occidental this week, slips to 8-11 overall and 3-8 in league play with the loss. 

CMS was pushed a little in the first set, holding a 14-12 lead before opening it up and winning 25-16, as Holmes had six kills in eight attempts in the first frame. Brenna Bell and Dani Beder combined on a block on set point to put the Athenas ahead 1-0. 

The second set, though, saw the Beavers rattle off six straight points to turn an 11-11 tie into a 17-11 lead. Lauren Parker had a kill to stop the skid for a moment, but Caltech kept the pressure on and led 24-14 before settling for a 25-16 win. 

It took a while for the Athenas to respond to the challenge, as Caltech led 11-8 early in the third and still held a 16-14 lead before a 5-0 CMS run swung the lead back to the home side. Audrey Sawyer and Jackie Jones, who both didn't play in the first two sets, had four kills during the run and Holmes capped it with an ace.

Caltech got back within 19-18, but a 4-0 CMS run, capped by an Isabel Yau-Weeks ace, put the Athenas up 23-18. Spencer Hagenbuch turned a fake set into a kill to make it 24-19, and Williams finished off the set with a kill for a 2-1 lead.

The Athenas then found their groove in the fourth, rolling to a 25-8 win. A Hagenbuch ace and a Summer Ellis kill pushed the lead to 10 early on at 13-3. Caltech bounced back to take the next two points, but CMS rattled off six unanswered, capped by a Jones kill, for a 19-5 lead. Libero Dede Carranza had a crafty kill from the back row to make the score 24-8, before the match ended on a Caltech error. 

Carranza had 21 digs to lead the CMS defense, while Holmes added 13 to go with her 16 kills. Georgia McGovern finished with 30 assists and Hagenbuch added 22 for the Athenas. 

CMS will be back in action for a busy week of five matches in five days, starting with a road match at Redlands on Tuesday. CMS will then host Occidental on Wednesday and fly to Calvin for three matches against top-10 teams on Friday and Saturday, including host Calvin, Hope and Ohio Northern.