SCIAC title swept away by No. 8 Cal Lutheran
ORANGE, Calif. – With the SCIAC championship on the line, the visiting No. 8-ranked Cal Lutheran University volleyball team swept No. 23 Chapman University in three sets (25-18, 25-20, 28-26) to capture its third straight conference title at the Hutton Sports Center on Friday night. The Regals clinched the No. 1 seed and home court advantage in next week's SCIAC Tournament.
The loss not only snapped the Panthers' nine-match winning streak, but their 13-match home winning streak. Chapman will face the University of La Verne on Thursday in Thousand Oaks with the final seedings to be determined after regular season play ends on Saturday. The winner of the SCIAC Tournament will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III playoffs.
Chapman (21-5 overall, 13-2 SCIAC) never could build a sustainable lead against Cal Lutheran (23-4 overall, 14-1 SCIAC). The Regals pulled away in the first set after the score was tied at 12, keeping the Panthers from scoring back-to-back points throughout the rest of the set before winning 25-18. Cal Lu sophomore OH Kylie McLogan recorded seven kills in the set and finished with a match-high 18.
The second set was much of the same although Chapman nearly rallied all the way back from a 12-4 deficit early on. The Panthers rattled off seven consecutive points, including four kills from senior OH Ashleigh Gideon to pull within a point of the lead. That was as close as they would get as the Regals scored eight of the next 11 points and went on to lead two sets-to-none.
Chapman kept things close in a back-and-forth third set that saw 11 lead changes. The Panthers' defense and passing was critical in pushing Cal Lutheran to the brink, out-digging the Regals 102-83 in the match. Four Panthers recorded 20 or more digs, led by junior libero Carleigh Mueller's 23. In the end, a pair of kills by McLogan gave the Regals the lead for good, winning 28-26.
With her 17-kill, 20-dig performance, Gideon became the first player in Panther history to earn 300 kills and 400 digs in the same season. Chapman sophomore MB Val Geiger finished with 12 kills and junior S Corrine Ostrovsky added 22 digs and 42 assists.
Prior to the match, the Panthers celebrated 'Senior Night', honoring five seniors playing at home for the final time in their careers: Gideon, Allix Miller, Laura Posada, Kate Ferrin and Jenny Gibson.
Chapman wraps up the regular season at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Saturday at 6 p.m. With a win, the Panthers would clinch the No. 2 seed in the SCIAC Tournament.
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wvball/2012-13/boxscores/20121026_ell0.xml
by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director
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