No. 3 CMS Volleyball Fights Off Redlands for SCIAC-Opening Sweep

REDLANDS, Calif. - The No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team had a tough challenge from Redlands in the first two sets, but were able to respond and come away with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-10 win on Friday evening in its SCIAC opener at Currier Gym.

With the win, CMS improves to 10-2 on the season and starts its league schedule at 1-0. Redlands, meanwhile, sees its record dip to 2-8 overall and 0-1 in SCIAC play. Senior right side hitter Amanda Walker led the way offensively for the Athenas with 14 kills, while senior setter Phoebe Madsen had 23 assists and 11 digs, and senior libero Sarah Tritschler had 20 digs. 

The first set was tight into the late-going, but junior middle hitter Melanie Moore had two straight service aces to give CMS a 22-19 lead and create some needed separation. The Bulldogs fought off two set points to get to within 24-23, but junior middle hitter Regan Dinovitz finished off the set for a kill and put the Athenas in front 1-0. 

Redlands built a five-point lead in the early stages of the second set, going ahead 12-7 on an ace from Emily Marty. The Athenas, though, were able to dig down and get back even at 17-17 behind service aces from first-year setter Spencer Hagenbuch and senior defensive specialist Lina Aluzri. With the score 23-22, Walker and first-year outside hitter Izzy Sakoda had back-to-back kills to help end the set 25-22 and put CMS in front 2-0. 

After a brief intermission, the Athenas started clicking on all cylinders, rolling to leads of 8-1, 13-2 and 16-3. Walker had a stretch of three kills in a 5-0 CMS run that pushed the lead to 13-2, and then picked up her 14th kill of the match to make it 24-10, before Redlands had an attacking error for the final point. 

CMS will be back in action on Tuesday night for its first SCIAC home match of the season, taking on La Verne at 7 p.m. at Roberts Pavilion.