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Box Score 2 CLAREMONT, CA: Pomona-Pitzer split its atypical Saturday SCIAC doubleheader, dropping a matinee home match 3-0 to #13 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before heading down 210 and sweeping Caltech 3-0 in the nightcap.
The Sagehens (11-12, 6-7 SCIAC) opened up the match against rival CMS with a back-and-forth first set that saw them lead 22-20 late before a 5-0 Athena run would clinch the set and gain the match's momentum. Pomona-Pitzer would find themselves in a hole early into the second set, trailing as much as 15-5 before racing back to cut the CMS (21-5, 11-2 SCIAC) lead to only four at 18-14 but the Athenas would use another big late run to claim the set 25-15. The Sagehens would fight hard to tie the third set at 17-17 but a strong CMS attack would allow the Athenas to close out the set 25-21 to sweep the regular season series.
Stephanie Sun had a big game for the Sagehens collecting game highs in both kills (13) and digs (12) while Sarah Gamble, Kate Porter, and Sophie Janssen all collected six kills apiece. Jessica Finn tallied her third 30+ assist game out of the last for with 33 on the match to keep the offense flowing for Pomona-Pitzer.
The nightcap saw the Sagehens make the trek down 210 to square off against the Caltech Engineers in a rare SCIAC doubleheader. Pomona-Pitzer would use big early runs to earn a comfortable sweep with set scores of 25-8, 25-10, and 25-9. Julia Zwaal posted her 11th match of the season with 10+ kills as she collected 10 kills to go with 3 digs and one service ace. Kate Porter continued her strong second half of the season with six kills and one block while Stephanie Sun and Natalie Martin each provided a team high eight kills to help anchor the defense. Jessica Finn would follow up on her 33 assist performance earlier in the day with 31 more to make it three straight matches with 30+ assists (4 out of her last 5) to accompany Sarah Gamble's career high five service aces.
"We're still too susceptible to playing Jekyll and Hyde in our matches" said head coach Valerie Townsend. "Our biggest struggle this year has been set-to-set consistency and it just came back to bite us a bit against CMS. The good news is that we're still in the hunt with three games left and I think that the improvements we've been able to make and are continuing to make are going to put is in a great position this week. We've got one week to decide who we are as a team and it all starts with how we prepare on Monday."
Pomona-Pitzer currently sits tied for fifth place in the SCIAC and only one game back from 4th place Whittier with three matches remaining. The Sagehens will be back in action Tuesday night as they host #19 La Verne in Voelkel Gymnasium at 7:30pm. Live coverage for the match can be found on the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics Website.
