Women's Volleyball: Road Victory Puts Sagehens 3-0 in SCIAC

Women's Volleyball: Road Victory Puts Sagehens 3-0 in SCIAC

LOS ANGELES, CA. - The Pomona-Pitzer Women's Volleyball Team is off to an electric start in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, taking down Occidental College in a 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-19) victory on Friday night. Trailing 1-0 after a tough 25-19 loss in the first set, the Sagehens cleaned up their offense and came back in three straight sets to come away with the road victory. Isabel Kelly led the Sagehens with 12 kills while Julia Zwaal added eight kills with 19 digs. First year Adrienne Tong added 34 assists and seven digs.  

Up Next: The victory propels the Sagehens to a 5-6 record overall and 3-0 in the SCIAC.

The first set did not go well as the Sagehens planned, as attacking errors from the visiting side and some service aces by the Occidental Tigers led the Tigers to a 25-19 victory. Pomona-Pitzer made some adjustments in the second set, having Zaza Apolinario-Chaplin start in the rotation. The move paid off as her presence helped the Sagehens' defense hold the Tigers to a .000 hitting percentage. The Sagehens started the set with a 5-0 run to take a 6-2 lead, taking advantage of several errors by the Tigers. Later with a 7-5 lead, the Sagehens went on a 4-0 run sparked by a kill from Gaby Harrison off a toss by Isabel Kelly. Leading 11-8, the Sagehens rallied again, scoring five straight points with four coming off attacking errors by the Tigers. The Sagehens finished the set with a kill by Zwaal followed by a ball handling error by Occidental's Hannah Wagner to even the score.

The two teams battled closely in the third set, but the Sagehens finally had the advantage when a Tigers' service error and an assisted block by Apolinario-Chaplin and Kelly put the score at 9-7. With the Sagehens ahead 11-10, Kelly scored a kill off a toss by Tong and Sophie Janssen followed with a service ace to put them ahead 13-10. Ahead 22-18, the Sagehens looked to close out the set as Kelly delivered an emphatic kill off a pass by Apolinario-Chaplin followed by an assisted block by Harrison and Vicky-Marie Addo-Ashong. A service error by Taylor Gorretta of the Tigers gave the Sagehens the second set.

The start of the fourth set was a grind as neither side could muster a significant rally. However, with both teams tied at 9 apiece, the Sagehens broke out on a 5-1 run thanks to two kills by Kelly and a service ace by Janssen. Leading 17-13, the two teams went on a thrilling rally that ended with a huge assisted block by Tong and Apolinario-Chaplin that shifted the momentum on the Sagehens' side. The Tigers briefly rallied while down 22-17 with a 3-0 run, but the Sagehens quickly snuffed out the threat as Kelly delivered a kill to make it 24-19 and Sara Ryerson scored a service ace to finish the match.

Up Next: The Sagehens will look to extend their undefeated run in the SCIAC as they host Whittier College tomorrow night at Voelkel Gym at 6:00 p.m.