Volleyball defeats La Verne for fourth straight win

ORANGE, Calif. – A new win streak continued to build as the Chapman University women's volleyball team defeated visiting La Verne 25-22, 25-21, 17-25, 25-15 for its fourth consecutive win. Freshman Sophie Srivastava turned in yet another triple-double – her sixth of the season.

The Panthers (15-2, 6-1 SCIAC) pulled away late in a back-and-forth first set to grab the early lead. They fell behind in the second and found themselves in an18-13 hole. Senior Lindsey Johnson knocked down one of her five kills to sideout and begin a momentum-changing run.

Senior Courtney Justus stepped back to serve and recorded back-to-back aces to bring Chapman back within two. A La Verne error was followed by a kill from senior Lauren Friend and another ace from Justus to give Chapman a 19-18 lead. The Leopards (8-7, 4-3 SCIAC) scored back-to-back points to reclaim the lead but Chapman went on another run to take a 2-0 advantage.

Friend slammed down a kill to spark the run, which included two more kills from Johnson and a set-clinching ace from Friend.

The Leopards quickly turned the momentum tide in the third, hitting .346 and putting up seven blocks in the set. Chapman was unable to find the long run to get back in it as La Verne forced a fourth set.

The Panthers responded in a big way. They hit .400 in the set with 14 kills and without committing any attacking errors. They also put up five blocks in the set to hold La Verne to .106 hitting and ran away with match-clinching win.

Srivastava finished the match with 12 kills, 23 assists and 10 digs. Freshman Jessi Lumsden led the Panthers with 16 kills and also had 11 digs. Senior Sara Utsugi inched closer to the 1,000 dig benchmark with 13 digs. Justus had 10 kills to go along with four aces.

Kelsie Sievers had a match-high 17 kills but was the only Leopard in double digits. Madison Maynes dished out 40 assists with three crafty kills.

The Panthers head to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday to take on the defending national champions at 7 p.m. They return home Oct. 12 to take on Caltech.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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