CMS Volleyball Has Season-High 13 Blocks in Sweep of Occidental

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team had 13 blocks, led by eight from Dani Beder, as it captured a 25-14, 25-21, 25-16 win over Occidental on Wednesday evening.

Brenna Bell led the offense with eight kills in 14 attempts, hitting .571, as the Athenas remain perfect on the year at 20-0 and 13-0 in the SCIAC. Occidental slips to 8-11 overall and 4-8 in the conference with the loss. 

CMS had an easy time in the first set, roaring out to a 20-6 lead on a Beder block with Jackie Jones, before settling for a 25-14 final margin, capping off the set with an Audrey Sawyer kill and a Spencer Hagenbuch ace.

The second set saw the Athenas have to battle, as the Tigers hung close throughout. Occidental, in fact, led 21-20 before CMS closed out on a 5-0 run to take the 25-21 lead into the third. Another Hagenbuch ace put the Athenas ahead to stay at 22-21 before the Tigers had three straight attacking errors. 

The final set was deadlocked 8-8 before CMS rattled off nine points in a row, again on Hagenbuch's serve. Sawyer started the run with a kill, and Jenna Holmes added two, including the final point of the run to make the score 17-8. The Tigers had one final push to get back within 19-15, but a 5-0 run, which included two straight Sawyer aces, pushed the lead to 24-15, and the Athenas finished it off with a Holmes kill that fell on the baseline.

Jones and Holmes each had seven kills for CMS, while Dede Carranza had 10 digs and Jones added nine. Hagenbuch had 18 assists and Georgia McGovern added 14 for the Athenas, who hit .333 as a team, just over their national lead in that category for the season (.313). 

CMS will be back in action this weekend at the Calvin Invitational for three big games against top-15 teams, facing No. 4 Hope, No. 6 Calvin and No. 14 Ohio Northern.