Athenas Volleyball Splits Again

 CMS Volleyball split another pair of conference matches on Friday and Saturday, dropping a 4 set contest against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges before beating Whittier College 3-0.

 On Friday night, the Athenas headed across the street to Rains Center to take on the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens. The Hens held CMS to just .081 in attacking and were ahead 18-12 before the Athenas went on a four point run on the serve of middle blocker, Jamie Matusiak (Sr., Tucson, AZ) to pull within two. A CMS hitting error returned the ball to Pomona-Pitzer who closed the set out 25-22. The teams matched each other point for point for the first 6 points in set 2 before the Athenas picked things up offensively and went ahead 17-13. The team improved its attacking to .371 and captured the win, 25-19. The Hens responded, however and in sets 3 and 4 capitalized on a series of CMS defensive errors. Down 11-21 in set 4, the Athenas managed to pull within 2 points, 21-23, but it was too little too late and Pomona-Pitzer closed out the match 25-13, 25-21. Freshman setter, Taylor Jones (Scottsdale, AZ) notched 38 assists in the effort; 18 of those sets resulted in kills from sophomore outside hitter, Emily Hudson (So. Pasadena, CA). Jones and Hudson also picked up 13 digs apiece. Middle blocker, Megan Levonian (Fr., Santa Cruz, CA) recorded 5 blocks.

 Saturday evening, the Athenas turned around to host Whittier College. CMS was in control from the opening points, never trailing in the match. CMS allowed only a single run of 3 points and held the Poets to just .068 attacking to win the match handily, 25-11, 25-18, 25-12. Katrina Lau (Fr. San Francisco, CA) had a strong serving effort dishing up 4 aces and a run of 7 in set three. Allie Macy (Jr., OH, Walnut, CA) hit .208 with 6 kills. She also notched 14 digs, as did junior libero, Jessica Waggoner (Scottsdale, AZ). Emily Hudson had 12 kills and Taylor Jones tallied 30 assists in the win.

 The Athenas have a break from SCIAC play this week, instead traveling to Cal Lutheran University for the 2009 Fall Classic. They will face Haverford, Birmingham Southern, UC Santa Cruz and Wisconsin Lutheran before returning to Ducey Gym on October 20 to host the SCIAC Dig for the Cure event and a match against first-place University of Redlands. Match time is 7:30.