Volleyball takes the Sunday sweep of UCSC

ORANGE, Calif. – It took a few extra points at the end but the Chapman University volleyball team bounced back with a Sunday sweep of UC Santa Cruz – 25-22, 25-13, 32-30. The Panthers moved to 18-3 on the season with the sweep.

The offensive numbers were high on both sides as the teams combined for just six blocks in the match. The Panthers hit .305 in the sweep while UC Santa Cruz hit .250. Chapman made just 10 hitting errors in three sets and had three players with double-digit kills.

Sophomore Sophie Srivastava tallied her nation-leading ninth triple-double of the season with 15 kills on .333 hitting to go along with 24 assists and 16 digs. Junior Mavis Lui hit .407 and pounded down 15 kills, including the match-clinching point. Sophomore Jessi Lumsden hit .326 with a match-high 16 kills and had 13 digs.

The third set seesawed into the thirties as Chapman fought to close out the match and UCSC fought to extend it. Chapman had four match points before clinching the win and fought off three set points from the Banana Slugs.

Trailing 23-22, Lui slammed down back-to-back kills to set up Chapman's first match point. The Slugs' Claire Okerlund tied up the match at 24-24 and a service ace followed to put Chapman on its heel Lui teamed up with senior Nayelli Munoz for a block to sideout but Okerlund struck again to again point UCSC one point away from a fourth set.

The Santa Cruz block touched the net to tie the match back up and senior Eve Silverman served up one of her four aces to reverse the score and put Chapman one point away from the win. Back-to-back UCSC kills put the Slugs back on top but Srivastava countered with a kill. Lumsden's next hit went off the antenna but the Slug's next serve didn't clear the net and Lumsden put down a kill for the Chapman advantage.

With UCSC out of substitutions, back row players found themselves in the front row. Timolin Kepon took advantage and earned her second kill of the night to tie the set up at 30-30. The Panthers went to the hot hands as Lumsden's final kill put the Panthers back on top and Lui put away the match with a cross court kill.

The Panthers hit .316 and pulled away late to take a close first set but hit .500 in the second to run away with a 2-0 lead. The hot-hitting Panthers never allowed UCSC to get on a run in the second with a sideout percentage over 80 percent in the second set.

Chapman is tied atop the SCIAC standings with a 10-1 record after Saturday's loss at CMS. Sunday's match wrapped up the Panther non-conference schedule with an 8-2 record outside the SCIAC. Five matches remain in the season with the Panthers needing one more win to clinch a spot in the SCIAC Tournament. They also have a three-match lead on La Verne and Cal Lutheran as they look to claim a top-2 spot in the SCIAC standings for the first time since joining the conference in 2012.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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