WHITTIER, CA: Pomona-Pitzer's rally was too little too late as they fell to Whittier 3-1 at Dave Jacobs Court in Friday Night SCIAC action. 

In need of a win over the 4^th place Poets to stay in the SCIAC Tournament hunt, the Sagehens (12-13, 7-8 SCIAC) fell into a tough hole right out of the gate, allowing a 12-4 Whittier run through the heart of the first set en route to dropping it 25-13. While Pomona-Pitzer would regain their composure in the second set and found themselves deadlocked with Whittier (18-6, 9-6 SCIAC) late at 24-24, the Sagehens surrendered two quick points to fall behind 2-0 in the match. On the brink of elimination, the Hens would register one of their best sets of the season, racing ahead 10-1 and never looking back for a 25-21 win while registering a game high .324 team kill percentage. However, the 4^th set was all Poets as they led wire-to-wire en route to winning the decisive set 25-20.

Sophie Janssen (pictured) registered her best performance of the season for the Sagehens, compiling a team high 14 kills to go with a season-high 16 digs while playing a crucial role in the 3^rd set win. Julia Zwaal and Samantha Quesada-Diaz had strong showings on the evening as well with Zwaal tallying 10 kills and 12 digs including five kills in the 3^rd set while Quesada-Diaz tied her season high with seven kills. Michelle Schultz notched her 14^th 20+ dig performance of the season with 20 on the evening while Jessica Finn logged her fifth consecutive match with 30+ assists.

"With the way we played on Tuesday, this is obviously a pretty disappointing outcome" said head coach Valerie Townsend. "Our biggest struggle this year has been maintaining consistency set-to-set as well as match-to-match and it came back to hurt us tonight at a very bad time. We were unable to match the intensity and focus that Whittier played with tonight and it showed in the result. We still have the opportunity to finish the season tomorrow on a high note and we'll have to rally around each other to give our seniors a proper sendoff."

With the loss, Pomona-Pitzer has been officially eliminated from SCIAC Tournament contention as they will be unable to leap 4^th place Whittier even in the event of a tie. The Sagehens will finish out their season tomorrow as they square off against #8 Cal Lutheran at 4pm in Voelkel Gymansium. Live coverage of tomorrow's match will be brought to you on the Pomona-Pitzer Athletics Website.