CMS Volleyball Stays Perfect, Clinches Outright SCIAC Title, with Sweep at Occidental

EAGLE ROCK, Calif. - The top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team was pushed by Occidental in the first two sets, but held off the Tigers' challenge and came away with a 25-22, 25-23, 25-11 win on Friday evening at Rush Gymnasium.

With the win, CMS moves to 25-0 and 15-0 in SCIAC, securing the regular season title outright. The Athenas came into the day with a two-game lead on Cal Lutheran with two to play, and they swept the Regals head-to-head, which meant they already had secured the top seed in the conference tournament. But the win means that CMS will have the outright regular season title, and is one win away (at home vs. La Verne tomorrow at 4 p.m.) from a perfect regular season. 

Occidental (6-16, 3-12 SCIAC) put up a spirited effort on its senior day to take the first two sets down to the wire before the Athenas were able to turn it up a notch in the third. The first set was knotted up 20-20, before kills from middle hitters Lauren Parker and Audrey Sawyer but CMS ahead 22-20. The Tigers stayed within 23-22, but Sawyer had a block and Summer Ellis finished off the set with a kill for a 25-22 win. 

The second set was also tight, as CMS took a 13-8 lead, but the Tigers went on an 8-1 run to go ahead 16-14. CMS scored the next four points, including kills from Jackie Jones, Dede Carranza and Brooke McKee, but Occidental stayed in it and pulled even at 23-23. Holmes then had a kill, and combined with Lauren Parker on a block to finish off the set 25-23. 

The Athenas jumped out to a 5-1 lead on a block from Ellis and Sawyer in the third. CMS then a stretch of four straight blocks to pull away, the last three in a row from Sawyer and Jones after a solo block from Ellis to make it a 21-7 lead, and capped off the 3-0 victory with a 25-11 win. 

Ellis hit .474 with nine kills in 19 attempts, while Holmes had a double-double with 13 kills in 29 attempts to go along with 10 digs. Spencer Hagenbuch and Georgia McGovern each had 20 assists, Carranza had 17 digs, and Sawyer had five blocks. 

CMS will close out the regular season with a home game and will honor its senior class prior to the contest, including Jones, Hagenbuch and Sonia Bliss. Ellis and Izzy Sakoda are also part of the Class of 2023, but are planning to return for their fourth seasons next fall.