Top-Ranked Volleyball Improves to 10-0 with 3-1 win over Colorado College

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team dropped just its third set of the season (a 25-23 defeat in the third), but bounced back to take a dominant fourth set to earn a 3-1 win over No. 10 Colorado College on Saturday on the second day of the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational at Gilbert Arena.  

Set scores were 25-13, 25-21, 23-25, 25-14 as CMS improves to 10-0 on the season, with six of the wins against teams ranked in the current top 25 (Babson, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Trinity, Emory, Colorado College), including 3-1 wins over Trinity and Emory in the only other set defeats they have suffered. The Tigers fall to 7-3 on the year with the loss.

Jenna Holmes and Summer Ellis were selected to the All-Tournament team for the Atheans. Holmes had 19 kills in 32 attempts, hitting .500 for the match, to lead the way for the Athenas, while Ellis hit over .500 in both matches on Friday, including 12 kills in 17 attempts against UC Santa Cruz, and six kills in 10 attempts against Endicott. In Saturday's match, Dede Carranza added 15 digs, and Spencer Hagenbuch and Georgia McGovern each had 22 assists.  

The Athenas dropped a rare set while leading 2-0, as the Tigers fought for a 25-23 win to stay alive. CMS regrouped, though, and exploded out to a 12-5 lead in the fourth to put a crimp in any comeback hopes.

CMS nearly came back from a five-point deficit in the third set to get the sweep, pulling within 24-23 after kills from Brenna Bell and Holmes. Isabella Lipacis was able to get the kill on the third set point, though, to give the Tigers the set and force it to a fourth.

The Athenas had to battle in the second set as well, as they trailed 21-20 after a 3-0 Colorado College run. CMS, though, responded right back with a 5-0 run to take the set 25-21, getting a kill from Audrey Sawyer, a kill from Ellis, two straight kills from Holmes, and a Sawyer ace to cap off the set.  

The first set saw the Athenas break it open after Colorado College closed to within 15-11. Holmes had two straight kills and McGovern had an ace as part of 4-0 CMS run, and the Athenas ended the set with another 4-0 run, which began with kills from Brooke McKee and Dani Beder, and ended with a block from Beder and Izzy Sakoda.

CMS will be back in action on Tuesday for its SCIAC opener at Whittier, before returning home to face Occidental on Friday night at 7 p.m.