Volleyball is first to punch ticket to SCIAC Tournament

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Chapman University volleyball team clinched a berth in the SCIAC Tournament with its four-set win (25-20, 25-17, 19-25, 25-18) over host Occidental College at the Rush Gymnasium on Tuesday night. The first-place Panthers currently sit on top of the standings at 11-1 with a 4.5-game lead over fifth place Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with four matches remaining.

Volleyball becomes the first Chapman team to earn a spot in the conference postseason tournament which begins on Nov. 1 at the site of the top-seeded institution. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships.

Chapman (18-4 overall) also learned on Tuesday that it has cracked the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III top-25, coming in at No. 25 in this week's poll.

The Panthers defeated Occidental thanks to three players with at least 16 kills, led by sophomore MB Val Geiger with 18. Seniors Kate Ferrin (17 kills) and Ashleigh Gideon (16 kills) also had big nights and junior S Corrine Ostrovsky – the Division III leader in assists per set – totaled 55 assists.

Now that the Panthers have clinched a postseason berth, they will set their sights on the top seed and the right to host the tournament. Of their four SCIAC matches remaining, three are against teams in the bottom half of the conference standings and the fourth is against No. 8-ranked Cal Lutheran at Hutton Center on Oct. 26.

Chapman returns home on Friday for a day-night doubleheader against UC Santa Cruz at noon and Caltech at 6 p.m.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wvball/2012-13/boxscores/20121016_06ki.xml

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