Blocking gives Regals SCIAC Tournament Final

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The No. 2 Cal Lutheran Regals won the SCIAC Volleyball Tournament Final 3-0 over No. 4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (25-23, 25-19, 25-16). In the three set match, the Regals had just seven errors and recorded 23 block assists while the Athenas had 60 digs.

The Athenas and Regals split the regular season matchups, each winning at home, for a tie of the conference championship. CLU won the tiebreaker and the No. 1 seed in the tournament taking four sets vs. the Athenas' three in those two games. In 2015, CMS won the SCIAC Tournament but then did not match up again with CLU as the Regals went on to win the NCAA National Championship. This year, both teams have been ranked by the AVCA in the top-10 all season and maintain a fierce rivalry.

The Regals jumped out to a 9-4 lead before CMS went on a 9-1 run to go up 13-10. In that run, junior Crystal Anderson (CMC) had four kills and ended up with six in the set. CLU tied up the game at 17-17 and then the Athenas called a timeout at 18-17 after a kill from Michelle Lawrence. The score was tied six times, just during the first set.

The Athenas earned the 23-21 lead with a kill in the middle by junior Sarah Bruml (CMC). Then, the defending national champions put away three points in a row to have their first set point. A blocking error by an Athena finished the set. This was not the first time CMS had been down a set this week and the Athenas looked to rally.

The second set started off with a few of service errors by CLU to give CMS some bonus points early on. In the middle of the set, senior Nicole Kerkhof (CMC) went on an error-less run to bring the Athenas within two at 13-11. A big block by Lawrence and Monica Lundgren kick-started the Regals putting up eight points to CMS' five. Finally, Lawrence put away the 25^th point for CLU to win the set 25-19. This was just the second second set of the season that CMS has lost, both to Cal Lu in Thousand Oaks.

Lundgren contributed four block assists in the final set, including two in the first four points. Cal Lutheran recorded 5.5 blocks in the third set alone and accounted for half of CMS' errors. The Athenas tried to come back from the 5-0 deficit at the beginning of the set, but were never able to get within four points for the remainder of the match. The Athenas fought off two two championship points and then a kill by Michelle Lawrence finished the match with CLU winning the championship 3-0.

The Regals played a very efficient match with just seven errors including CMS's 3.0 blocks.

Box Score

Now, CMS awaits the decision of the NCAA and where they could get sent with an at-large bid to the tournament. Watch the NCAA Selection Show live at 9:30 a.m.

By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director

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