THOUSAND OAKS, Ca. – The Pomona-Pitzer volleyball team earned a 3-2 (16-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-27, 15-11) victory over the Cal Lutheran Regals in a conference road match Tuesday night. The Sagehens attack was led by Paige Mountanos who recorded 17 kills with a .310 hitting percentage while Chloe Gill and Kellan Hayes recorded 14 and 10 kills. Kylie Mies dished out 22 assists with Savanna Cespedes recording 17 of her own. Corrina Benson anchored the defense with 24 digs with Paige Wilson earning 20 digs and nine kills. 
 
How It Happened
The opening set of the night saw the Sagehens strike first but the Regals worked their way to a 5-3 run before extending the lead to 13-8 to force a Pomona-Pitzer timeout. The Sagehens earned three straight points out of the break, but the Regals maintained their lead with a 7-5 run to go up 20-13. The Sagehens were held to just three more points in the set as the Regals won 25-16.  
 
The Regals struck first in set two, but Pomona-Pitzer saw the early advantage as they took a 5-3 lead before Cal Lutheran battled back to tie the contest at 11-11. The Regals briefly took the lead at 13-11 but a convincing 10-2 run from the Sagehens with kills from Gill, Hayes, and Mountanos gave Pomona-Pitzer a 21-15 lead to force a Regals timeout. The Sagehens were able to close out the set with a slight 6-4 advantage to take set two 25-21 as Wilson recorded three kills with Mountanos earning one in the run. 
 
Cal Lutheran started set three on a 10-5 run, but Pomona-Pitzer quickly turned things around with a 11-3 run, taking the lead at 16-13 with kills from Gill and Tene Ariyo, forcing a Regals timeout. Out of the break, the Sagehens continued their run, taking a 7-4 edge in points to take a 23-17 lead. Cal Lutheran recorded two more points in the set, but an attack error and Paige Mountanos kill capped off the 25-19 victory in set three for the Sagehens. 
 
After a brief back and forth battle to get to 3-3 in set four, the Regals used a 9-3 run to take a 12-6 lead over the Sagehens. Pomona-Pitzer was able to fight back into the set with a 7-5 run, cutting the Regals lead to 17-13, forcing them to talk things over. The run saw kills from Mountanos, Hayes, Gill, and Wilson. The Regals took the first point after the break, but the Sagehens made an 8-2 run with Charlotte Sekerka, Ariyo, Gill, and Wilson all recording kills to give the Sagehens a 21-20 lead. Pomona-Pitzer continued to pressure the Regals, using a slight 3-2 edge in points to take a 24-22 advantage but Cal Lutheran was able to fight back, tying the game at 25-25 before taking the next two points to win set four 27-25 and force a fifth set. 
 
With momentum on their side from a hard fought set four win, the Regals came out swinging in set five as five different attackers recorded kills to start set five on a 7-3 run, forcing the Sagehens to call a timeout. Tene Ariyo recorded a kill out of the break, but the Regals continued to pressure, working to a 11-5 lead with a 4-1 run. The Sagehens stormed back into the set with a 7-0 run, forcing a Cal Lutheran timeout. Out of the break, the Sagehens put the finishing touches on the match as they continued their run with Hayes ending the match with a kill to defeat the Regals 15-11 in the set and 3-2 on the night.