ORANGE, Ca. – The Pomona-Pitzer volleyball team dropped their SCIAC opener 3-1 (26-24, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19) against the Chapman Panthers on the road on Tuesday night. Chloe Gill recorded a team-high 14 kills with a .205 hitting percentage while Paige Wilson recorded 10 kills with a .156 clip. Lauren Asato recorded 21 digs overall while Kylie Mies dished out 20 assists. The Sagehens will be back in action Friday, Sept. 23 when they travel to CalTech.

Chloe Gill started the match off with a kill, but Chapman took the early momentum with a 7-3 run. The Sagehens pushed back with a 5-2 run to cut the Panthers lead to 9-8 with kills from Kellen Hayes, Paige Wilson, and Gill. The Panthers quickly made a 5-0 run to take a 14-8 lead, but Pomona-Pitzer scored eight of the next 10 points to tie the game at 16-16 and force a Chapman timeout. Out of the break, the Sagehens took the lead with a block from Grace Fan and Paige Mountanos before Chloe Gill, Paige Wilson, and Grace Fan all recorded kills to extend the lead to 21-19. Chapman scored the next three points to take the lead at 22-21 and force a Sagehen timeout. Pomona-Pitzer answered out of the break with a kill from Natalie Potter and Chloe Gill to regain the lead at 23-22, forcing another break in the action with Chapman wanting to talk things over. Out of the break, Paige Wilson recorded a service ace to make it 24-22 but a 4-0 run gave the Panthers a 26-24 set one victory. 

Chapman started set two on a 3-0 run but blocks from Mountanos, Fan, and Wilson along with a service ace from Emily Bunnell put the Sagehens on top 4-3. Chapman scored six of the next eight to take a 9-6 lead, but the Sagehens answered again with a 4-0 run to take the lead at 10-9. The Panthers went on a 5-0 run that forced a Sagehen timeout but continued to attack out of the break as they went on a 5-3 run to force another Pomona-Pitzer timeout with the Sagehens trailing 19-13. Despite the large lead from the Panthers, the Sagehens shot right back into the match with a 6-2 run, forcing a Chapman timeout at 21-19. The Sagehens continued to surge forward with a 6-2 run led by Natalie Potter who had two kills and assisted on a block with Grace Fan to take set two 25-23. Isabelle Alduino also recorded a service ace to give the Sagehens the lead at 24-23 and force a Chapman timeout. 

The two teams went back and forth briefly to start set three, working to a tie seven times before either team broke the 10-point barrier. Chapman was able to go on a 5-0 run to force a Sagehen timeout, trailing 14-9. Chapman continued to push, taking six of the next 10 points to extend their lead to 20-13 and force another Sagehen timeout. From there, the Sagehens put the pressure on with an 8-3 run, pulling with two at 23-21 to force a Chapman timeout. Out of the break, the Sagehens recorded a service error and attack error that gave Chapman the 25-21 victory in set three. 

Set four saw Gill record a kill to get things started but the set featured another back-and-forth battle as the two times found themselves tied 14 times until we hit 15-15. The set saw a tie at every point from one to 15 except for a 7-7 tie, proving just how competitive the two teams were. With the game tied 15-15, Chapman broke free with a 3-0 run that forced a timeout from the Pomona-Pitzer bench with Chapman up 18-15. Grace Fan and Chloe Gill both recorded a kill out of the break, but Chapman extended their lead to 22-17 to force another Sagehen timeout. Out of the timeout, the Panthers earned a slight 3-2 edge to take set four 25-19 and defeat Pomona-Pitzer 3-1.