CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Volleyball team ended the Pacific Coast Classic with a 3-1 loss to Centre and a 3-2 loss to UW River Falls on Saturday night at Voelkel Gymnasium.

Season Impact: with the losses, the Sagehens fall to 2-2 to start the year.

Pomona-Pitzer vs Centre

Leading the scoring for the Sagehens was Paige Mountanos with 12 kills while Chloe Gill had11 and Samantha Grabb with eight. Jenny Jenks came away with 36 assists while Corrina Benson had 12 digs and Ella Mesard had nine.

Pomona-Pitzer continued their great stretch of volleyball in the first set against a tough Centre team coming off a big win across the street against CMS. Centre and the Sagehens were deadlocked at 6-6 in the first before the Sagehens scored three-straight points, two service aces from Jenks and a kill by Samantha Grabb, to take a 9-6 advantage. Pomona-Pitzer kept its slight lead until the end of the set where Centre made a run to tie the set at 23-23.  However, the Sagehens rallied with a kill from Grabb and an attack error to take set one 25-23.

Centre came back with a vengeance in set two and quickly established a lead at 9-4. The Colonels continued to grow their lead throughout the set and evened the game at 1-1 after a 25-13 set two victory.

Centre got off to an early lead to start a decisive third set, but the Sagehens came back to take their first lead since the first set at 8-7 after a kill by Charlotte Sekerka. The two teams stayed within a point of each other until the very end of the set tied at 25-25. The Sagehens went up 26-25 with a chance to take a 2-1 lead, but Centre ended the match with three-straight points to take set three and a 2-1 lead.

The Sagehens started out close with Centre to start the fourth set until the Colonels went on a 5-0 run to force Pomona-Pitzer to take a timeout with a 10-5 lead. Centre kept their lead throughout the set, but the Sagehens made a run to cut it down to 20-17 after a service errors to try to force a fifth set. Centre responded with three-straight points to go up 23-17 and finished with a 25-20 win to hand the Sagehens their first loss of the season.
 
Pomona-Pitzer UW River Falls
The Sagehens ended the Pacific Coast Classic with a five-set loss against UW River Falls. Chloe Gill Led the way with 19 kills while Jenny Jenks came away with 53 assists and Corrina Benson with 25 digs.
 
Like every game this opening weekend, the Sagehens started out strong with a set one win to take a 1-0 lead. An 8-2 start allowed Pomona-Pitzer to play from in front and continued to build their lead to go up 14-6. River Falls committed eight attack errors in the first set while the Sagehens hit .353 to take set one 25-15.

The second set was a turning point in the match as the Sagehens held a slight lead up until River Falls tied the set at 23-23.  The Falcons took a 24-23 lead before the Sagehens came back with a set point at 25-24, but River Falls rallied again to even the match at 1-1 with a 28-26 win in set two.
 
Another close contest in set three that saw the Falcons holding s light advantage throughout the set with the lead never exceeding two points. The Sagehens stayed within striking distance trailing 23-22, but River Falls was able to hold off Pomona-Pitzer for the 25-22 win to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Pomona-Pitzer flipped a switch in set four after holding a one-point lead at 9-8, the Sagehens went on an 11-2 run to take a 20-10 lead.  The Sagehens dominated the Falcons in both set one and set four to force a fifth and deciding set for the final game of the Pacific Coast Classic.
 
With the team tied at 6-6, River Falls sparked a 4-0 run to take a 10-6 lead. Pomona-Pitzer fought back to cut the lead down to 12-9, but the Falcons regrouped late and handed the Sagehens their second loss of the day to end the Pacific Coast Classic in 2024.
 
Up Next: The Sagehens will next host Austin College on Friday September 6^th at 6:30 p.m.