CMS Volleyball Closes Regular Season on High Note, Takes Down Chapman in Five

ORANGE, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team won its eighth five-setter of the year as it defeated Chapman 3-2 on the road to close out the 2018 regular season with its seventh straight win.

Set scores were 26-24, 25-17, 18-25, 16-25, 15-9, as CMS took the momentum back in the fifth set when it seemed Chapman may rally from a 2-0 deficit. With the victory, CMS ends the regular season 24-3 and 15-1 in the SCIAC, winning the regular season league title by four games. The Athenas also won eight five-setters this season, going 8-2 in matches decided in five. 

Amanda Walker led the Athenas with 14 kills, while Melanie Moore added 12 and Lucila Grinspan had 10 and 18 digs. Phoebe Madsen added 29 assists and six service aces, while Sara Tritschler had a team-high 21 digs. 

The first set was deadlocked 24-24, but Moore was able to come up with a key kill and an error from Chapman gave the first set to CMS. Madsen had three service aces in a 5-0 run to put CMS ahead 7-5 in the second set, and Moore had back-to-back aces to push the lead to 17-13. Lina Aluzri then added two aces to get the Athenas to 23 points, and an ace from Tritschler gave CMS a 25-17 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. 

Chapman captured the third and fourth sets decisively, but CMS was able to regroup in the fifth to close out the regular season with a win. A 7-0 run turned a narrow 6-5 lead into a commanding 13-5 advantage, with Grinspan adding an ace to the CMS total, and Moore and Jackie Jones capping it off with a block. Moore had a kill to make it 14-7, and after Chapman won the next two points, a service error wrapped it up and give the win to the Athenas. 

CMS will be the top seed in next week's SCIAC Tournament and will host a semifinal on Thursday night at 7 p.m. If the Athenas win that one, they will advance to the SCIAC Finals at home on Saturday.