Thousand Oaks, Calif. - The Pomona-Pitzer Volleyball team suffered a pair of narrow defeats as it fell in five sets to both Pacific (Ore.) and East Texas Baptist on Friday on the first day of the Posada Royale Invitational on Friday evening at California Lutheran.

On Saturday, the Sagehens fell 3-0 to UC Santa Cruz and Southwestern University, as they fell to 2-6 on the young season. 

Freshman outside hitter Ellen Yamasaki (Salinas, Calif. - pictured, photo by Mike Galvez) had a spectacular opening day for the Sagehens, as she tallied 15 kills against Pacific and 21 against East Texas Baptist. She committed only three errors in the East Texas Baptist match as well, for a hitting percentage of .340. 

In their first match of the opening day against Pacific, the Sagehens fell into a 2-0 hole after falling 26-24 in the second set. However, with its backs against the wall, Pomona-Pitzer responded in extra time with a 27-25 win in set three, then continued the momentum with a resounding 25-15 win in the fourth set to even the match up at 2-2.

The fifth and decisive set came right down to the final point, but Pacific was able to edge out the Sagehens and capture a 15-13 win and earn the victory in the match.

Senior outside hitter Jordan Hammond (Tulsa, Okla.) matched Yamasaki with 15 kills to lead the Sagehens, while junior middle bitter Erin Toothaker (Portland, Ore.) added six kills and no errors in 11 attempts for a team-high .545 hitting percentage. Senior libero Heidi Leonard (Del Mar, Calif.) had 24 digs defensively, while Yamasaki added 20, and senior setter Kenzie Aries (Encinitas, Calif.) had 37 assists. Junior middle hitter Rachel Bollens (Seattle, Wash.) chipped in with seven kills and a team-high eight blocks.

Pomona-Pitzer was back on the court a half-hour later to take on East Texas Baptist and picked up a 26-24 win in the opening set. The next two sets were equally close, but East Texas Baptist was able to outlast the Sagehens and earn 28-26 and 25-23 wins to pull ahead 2-1.

Once again, Pomona-Pitzer dominated the fourth set to pull even, as it captured a 25-14 win to tie the match up at two sets apiece. However, East Texas Baptist regrouped and earned a 15-12 win in the decisive set to give the Sagehens two defeats by the narrowest of margins.

Yamasaki added 18 digs to go with her 21 kills, while Leonard has 21. Toothaker had nine kills in support of Yamaski, while Aries had 41 assists.  

On Saturday, with the fatigue of two five-setters from the night before still weighing on them, Pomona-Pitzer fell twice on the day to UC Santa Cruz and Southwestern (Texas) by 3-0 scores. The Sagehens came out flat in their first match against UC Santa Cruz as the Banana Slugs took the first set 25-7. Pomona-Pitzer picked up its play as the match went on, and the third set was much closer (25-22), but UC Santa Cruz was able to hold on for the 3-0 win. The Southwestern match was similar in that the Sagehens had their best effort in the third set, but they still fell 25-17, 25-13, 25-20.

Yamasaki had nine kills for the Sagehens against UC Santa Cruz, while Hammond added eight. Freshman Danika Kritter (Culpepper, Va.) took over setting duties and had 18 assists, while Leonard led the way defensively with 15 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Sophie Tweed-Simmons (Beverly Hills, Calif.) paced Pomona-Pitzer in the second match against Southwestern with 11 kills, while Hammond had nine and Leonard chipped in with 17 digs. 

Pomona-Pitzer will next be in action when it faces Emory (at Cal Lutheran) on Friday before opening up SCIAC play on Saturday at Whittier.