Volleyball's win streak snapped with five-set loss
ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's volleyball team suffered a five-set loss to visiting Cal Lutheran on Tuesday. The Panthers (19-5, 10-4 SCIAC) remain in second place despite the 23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19, 15-13 loss with two matches left to play.
Freshman Sophie Srivastava tallied her ninth triple-double of the season with 11 kills, 35 assists and 14 digs in the loss. Fellow freshman Jessi Lumsden hit a match-high 22 kills to go along with 10 digs. Senior Courtney Justus came off the bench and hit .304 with nine kills, including six in the third set.
The Regals used 15 team blocks to comeback twice and eventually take the match in a nailbiter. Freshman Maci Haddad had 10 total blocks to go along with 14 kills on .500 hitting. The Panthers put up just three blocks in the match as Cal Lutheran outhit Chapman .256-.196.
The Panthers opened up the match on a roll and burst out to a 12-3 lead. Cal Lutheran (16-10, 10-5 SCIAC) chipped its way back and tied the set at 23-23 with a four-point run. Lumsden responded with back-to-back kills to clinch the set and an early lead.
Chapman built another early lead in the second but Cal Lutheran used four blocks to dig out of the hole and end the set on a 7-2 run. The set ended with back-to-back blocks for Cal Lutheran.
The Panthers came back and won the third set despite hitting just .062 in the set. Cal Lutheran didn't fare much better, hitting .042. Justus entered the front row in the third and slammed down six crucial kills to help the Panthers go up 2-1.
After Cal Lutheran took the fourth set, the Panthers were forced to pay five sets for a second straight match. After trading points and the lead a few time, Srivastava and Friend slammed down back-to-back kills for a 10-7 lead. After a CLU timeout, senior Sara Utsugi served an ace to make it 11-7.
Cal Lutheran quickly called another timeout and regrouped. A Chapman free ball landed out of bounds on the next play to give Cal Lutheran the sideout it was looking for. The Regals rattled off the next four points to take a 12-11 lead. A kill from senior Lindsey Johnson snapped the run and tied up the set but the two teams traded the next two point to make it 13-13. Chapman's next serve went long and its final attack went into the net to give Cal Lutheran the win.
The jumbled SCIAC standings still have six teams with possibilities to make the top-4 and the SCIAC Tournament. With the win, Cal Lutheran sits just behind Chapman at 10-5 in the SCIAC. Pomona-Pitzer (9-4), La Verne (9-5) and Whittier (8-6) are still in the mix as well while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (12-1) leads the pack.
The Panthers head to La Verne on Friday before closing out the regular season at 4 p.m. against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at home on Saturday at 4 p.m.
By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director
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