Athenas spoil Panthers' home debut with sweep

ORANGE, Calif. – Coming off a solid 3-1 performance at the Pomona-Pitzer Tournament last weekend, the Chapman University women's volleyball team was eager to play in front of its home crowd for the first time this season. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges had other ideas, sweeping Chapman 25-23, 25-23, 25-15 in the Panthers' home opener at the Hutton Sports Center on Tuesday night.

Claremont (5-0) won for the fifth consecutive time to remain unbeaten this season. The Panthers lost their home opener for the second year in a row.

The Athenas won the battle at the net, defending well against Chapman and earning a total of seven blocks and thwarted countless more Panther attacks. In fact, Claremont held the Panthers below .100 in hitting percentage in all three games and Chapman hit just .068 for the match.

Meanwhile, the Athenas hit .250 as a team, including .326 in the third and final set with 16 kills and just one hitting error. Claremont was led by Bennett Jones, who finished with a team-best 10 kills. Kendra Huff and Emily Hudson combined for 15 kills and no errors for the Athenas.

For Chapman (3-2), freshmen Mady Dahlstrom and McKenna Roice finished with 10 and nine kills, apiece. Senior S Kat Kowalski added 31 assists.

The Panthers next travel to Thousand Oaks for the Cal Lutheran Tournament where they will play four more matches on Friday and Saturday. Chapman returns home next Tuesday to host the University of Redlands.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wvball/2010-11/files/cms-cu.htm