By Saahil Desai '16

Claremont, Calif. – The Occidental volleyball team rebounded after a tough first set to claim a highly-contested 3-1 victory over Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday evening by a score of 19-25, 25-14, 25-19, and 25-13.

Only several hours after beating Caltech this morning, the Sagehens find themselves at 9-12 for the season and in sixth place in the SCIAC with a record of 4-9. On the other hand, the Occidental win comes after their 3-1 loss at conference-leading Cal Lutheran and gives the Tigers a strong 8-5 conference record (15-6 overall).   

Occidental stole the show with its offense as three Tigers finished the match with ten or more kills.  A total of 15 kills from Logan Boyer-Hayse, in addition to 14 from Stephanie Gann and 12 from Kasey Rose, proved too much to handle for the Pomona-Pitzer defense. 

In the first game, Pomona-Pitzer jumped out to a large 12-5 with the help of strong serving from libero Lauren Kim (pictured, photo by Mike Galvez). Maintaining their lead at 17-12, the Sagehens were unaffected by a late Occidental comeback and managed to finish strong with a 25-19 win.

A momentum shift was noticeable in the second game as the Tigers came out swinging and quickly found themselves out in front 17-9. Occidental's Logan Boyer-Hayse had a strong game, and her five kills tied the match with a 25-14 Tiger win.

The third game featured lots of back and forth points with Pomona-Pitzer holding their own to pull within one at 10-9. The Tigers managed to preserve a small lead as the game progressed and used a Sarah Beene kill to clinch the game 25-19.

Quickly pulling away in the fourth and final game, Occidental never looked back. Pushing their lead to 21-11, the Tigers used a Kasey Rose service ace to close out the match and the game by a score of 25-13.

Sophomore Ellen Yamasaki (Salinas, Calif.) led the Sagehens with 15 kills, while sophomore Samantha Cahill (Vancouver, Wash.) added 11 kills and only two errors in 28 attempts.

After playing at rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens take on Redlands before returning to play their final home game against Chapman at 6 pm at Voelkel Gymnasium on Oct. 27.