Summer Ellis had 12 kills in 17 attempts against UC Santa Cruz (photo by Eva Fernandez)
Summer Ellis had 12 kills in 17 attempts against UC Santa Cruz (photo by Eva Fernandez)

Top-Ranked CMS Volleyball Picks up Two More Sweeps, Improves to 9-0

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Summer Ellis had 12 kills in 17 attempts in the first match, and Audrey Sawyer had 10 kills in 11 attempts in the nightcap, as the No. 1 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team moved to 9-0 on the year with 3-0 wins over UC Santa Cruz and Endicott on Friday at the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational.

UC Santa Cruz slips to 8-3 with the loss, while Endicott suffers its first defeat as it drops to 5-1 on the year. Set scores were 25-13, 25-21, 25-19 against UC Santa Cruz and 25-17, 25-19, 25-18 against Endicott, as the Athenas cruised through most of the day's action, other than a comeback in the second set against UC Santa Cruz. 

In that match, CMS roared out to a 25-13 win in the first set, but fell behind by five points in the second at 14-9. Jenna Holmes had two straight kills to cut the deficit to 14-11, and the Athenas went on a 4-0 run to take a 20-18 lead, starting with kills from Brooke McKee and Ellis, and ending with a Spencer Hangebuch ace. Ellis and Sawyer combined on a block to make it 24-20, and after UC Santa Cruz fought off a set point, Ellis finished it with a kill to put CMS up 2-0 in the match. 

In the third set, UC Santa Cruz was within 11-8, before CMS went on a 6-0 run. Ellis started the run with a kill, and McKee finished it with a kill, while Holmes and Kelsey Polhemus had blocks in the middle. Sawyer and Ellis combined on another block to make the score 24-16, and an error one point later gave the match to the Athenas. 

McKee finished with eight kills in 15 attempts with no errors, hitting .533, just behind the .588 from Ellis. Holmes added eight kills and Izzy Sakoda had six. Hagenbuch finished with 22 assists, and Dede Carranza had 11 digs.

In the second match, Sawyer finished all but one of her attacks, while Holmes had 12 kills in 23 attempts and Bell had 10 in 16 attempts, as CMS hit .451 on the day as a team. Georgia McGovern had 20 assists and Hagenbuch had 18, while Holmes had a team-high eight digs. 

CMS will be back in action tomorrow as it looks to move to 10-0 with its sixth win against a nationally ranked team, when it meets No. 10 Colorado College at 3 p.m. on the second day of the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational.