CLAREMONT, Ca. – The Pomona-Pitzer volleyball season comes to an end after falling to the Chapman Panthers 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 26-24) in the SCIAC Semifinal contest. The Sagehens end the season with an overall record of 17-10 and a 13-3 conference record. The semifinal match featured Pomona-Pitzer as the No. 2 seed and Chapman as the No. 3 seed with the winner advancing to the SCIAC Postseason Tournament Championship game against No. 1 seed CMS. On the night, the Sagehens swung at a .082 hitting percentage with 38 kills, 26 errors on 147 attempts. Grace Fan led the attack with a dominant performance in the middle, earning 13 kills on 23 attacks with no errors, good for a .565 hitting percentage. Lauren Asato led the defense with 22 digs while Paige Wilson picked up 18 of her own. Adrienne Tong dished out 17 assists with Kylie Mies earning 16. 

How It Happened

The Sagehens fell behind quickly in set one as the Panthers went on a 6-2 run to start the set and force an early Pomona-Pitzer timeout. Out of the break, the Sagehens picked up a kill from Chloe Gill, but Chapman extended their lead to 12-7. Pomona-Pitzer battled back with a 6-1 run to tie the contest at 13-13 which was followed by back-and-forth play from both teams as the game came to a 20-20 tie. The Panthers quickly got out to a 24-21 lead but kills from Kellan Hayes and Paige Wilson along with a Chapman attack error brought the set to a tie at 24-24. The Panthers took the next two points after a Sagehen service error, and a solo block ended the set 26-24. 

Grace Fan and Naomi Chen-Mallouk both picked up kills at the start of set two to give Pomona-Pitzer a 2-0 lead, but the Panthers went on a 9-0 run to take control of the set. Chapman continued to expand their lead, utilizing a heavy attack to take a commanding 18-10 lead and force a Sagehen timeout. Out of the break the two teams traded blows, but the Sagehens were too far behind as Chapman took the set 25-16.

After falling behind 3-1 in set three, Pomona-Pitzer rallied back to take a 9-6 lead with kills from Adrienne Tong, Chloe Gill, and Kellan Hayes, forcing a Chapman timeout. Out of the break, the Panthers and Sagehens traded swings with Chapman earning a slight 6-5 edge in points before Pomona-Pitzer went on a 3-0 run that forced a Chapman timeout with the Sagehens leading 17-12. Out of the timeout, the Panthers went on a 6-2 lead to force the Sagehens to talk things over with the lead cut to 19-18. From there, the Panthers chipped away at Pomona-Pitzer's lead, taking the lead at 23-22 to force another Sagehen timeout. After the break, Grace Fan earned two kills to keep the contest tied at 23-23 and 24-24 but the Panthers picked up the next two points to take the third set 26-24 and complete the 3-0 sweep over the Sagehens. 

Season Stats

As mentioned, the Sagehens end the season 17-10 overall and 13-3 in the conference. Pomona-Pitzer was one of the best blocking teams in the country this season with a total of 224 blocks, averaging 2.38 per set which is currently the fifth best average in the NCAA. The team recorded a total of 1,159 kills on the season, averaging 12.33 per set. The team is also top-50 in digs per set having recorded 1,701 digs on the season good for an 18.10 average and 43rd in the country. 

On the season, Chloe Gill led the team with 304 kills while Paige Wilson (200), Grace Fan (144), Naomi Chen-Mallouk (143), and Kellan Hayes (128) all recorded over 100 kills. Adrienne Tong led the team in assists with 481 on the season, ending her career with a total of 2,038, putting her seventh all-time in program history in just a three-year career. Lauren Asato was the team's defensive anchor all year, picking up 530 digs while Paige Wilson (289), Kylie Mies (206), and Adrienne Tong (193) all earned over 100. Tong also led the team in service aces as she earned 31 overall. Grace Fan ended the season with 112 total blocks which has her ranked 10th in the country in total blocks and fifth in the country in blocks per set with a 1.21 average.