LA VERNE, Ca. – The Pomona-Pitzer volleyball team defeated No. 19 UC Santa Cruz 3-1 (25-16, 17-25, 25-19, 25-22) on Friday evening to start their weekend at the Whittier Invitational. First year Samantha Grabb led the attack for Pomona-Pitzer, recording 12 kills with just three errors, good for a .375 hitting percentage on the day. Chloe Gill recorded nine kills with Paige Wilson and Paige Mountanos following closely behind with eight and seven kills, respectively. Eleanor Nicholson dished out 19 assists while Kylie Mies and Savana Cespedes both recorded nine each. Tene Ariyo recorded one block and assisted on four with Kellan Hayes, Mountanos, and Grabb all assisting on three blocks as well. Three Sagehens recorded double-digit digs with Corrina Benson leading the way with 23 while Paige Wilson and Mackenzie Bravo-Woo picking up 15 and 11 total. Pomona-Pitzer will be back in action tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. when they take on Whitworth and Pacific Lutheran. 
 
How It Happened
The Sagehens got off to a quick start with a 4-0 run to start the set with kills from Chloe Gill and Tene Ariyo. The Banana Slugs rallied back with a 7-3 run to tie the game at 7-7. The two teams fought back and forth briefly to a 9-9 tie before the Sagehens forced a timeout with a 4-0 run after kills from Paige Wilson and Paige Mountanos set the lead at 13-9. Out of the break, Kellan Hayes recorded a kill, but the Banana Slugs fought back to cut the lead to two points at 16-14. The Sagehens were able to push forward to a 20-16 lead with kills from Mountanos, Ariyo, and Grabb. From there, the Sagehens wrapped things up with a 5-0 run to finish off the set 25-16. 
 
The Banana Slugs countered well to start the second set, going on a 5-1 run to put the pressure on the Sagehens. Pomona-Pitzer responded with a 5-1 run of their own, tying the set at 6-6. UC Santa Cruz continued to charge forward, extending their lead to 13-10 to force a Pomona-Pitzer timeout. The Banana Slugs didn't let up, going on a 6-2 run out of the break to force the Sagehens to use their second timeout. Pomona-Pitzer rallied back into the set with a 5-1 run to cut the Banana Slugs lead to 21-17, forcing a UCSC timeout but the Banana Slugs took the next four points to win set two 25-17. 
 
Much like set two, the two teams worked their way to a 6-6 tie to start the game, but the Sagehens jumped out to a 9-7 lead after three-straight UCSC errors. From there, the Sagehens never relinquished their lead, working their way to a 16-10 lead with service aces from Grabb and Hayes and kills from Grabb, Mountanos, and Gill. UCSC managed to fight back with a 5-1 run to force a Sagehen timeout, leading 17-15. The Banana Slugs took the first point out of the break, but Pomona-Pitzer earned four-straight to extend their lead to 21-15 and force the Banana Slugs to talk things over. The break slowed down the Sagehens momentum momentarily as UCSC went on a 4-0 run. Pomona-Pitzer promptly responded with a 4-0 run of their own, ending the set 25-19 with an ace from Corrina Benson to put the Sagehens up 2-1. 
 
The Sagehens started set four with a 5-2 run with kills from Paige Wilson and Chloe Gill to take the early lead. UC Santa Cruz took their first lead of the set with a 4-0 run and later extended their lead to 12-10 to keep the pressure on Pomona-Pitzer. A service error pulled the Sagehens within one at 12-11 but UC Santa Cruz extended their lead to 14-11 to force the Sagehens to call a timeout. The Sagehens trailed 18-14 but began to chip away at the UC Santa Cruz lead with kills from Grabb and Hayes, forcing the Banana Slugs to call a timeout with the lead at 19-18. Samantha Grabb recorded a kill right after the timeout before Paige Wilson added two of her own, forcing another UCSC timeout with the Sagehens leading 22-20. UCSC recorded a kill out of the break, but Pomona-Pitzer made their way to 24-21 with a block from Hayes and Mountanos and a kill from Chloe Gill. The Banana Slugs benefited from a Sagehen error but an attacking error on UCSC gave the Sagehens the 25-22 victory over the No. 19 Banana Slugs.