No. 18 Claremont deals volleyball third straight home defeat

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University volleyball team hung with the visiting No. 18-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, but fell in four sets 17-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-21 at the Hutton Sports Center on Tuesday night in a SCIAC match. After winning the first set, the Panthers flirted with the upset but couldn't hold on to leads late in the third and fourth sets as they dropped their third straight match at home.

At exactly the halfway point in the SCIAC schedule, Chapman (4-13 overall, 3-5 SCIAC) currently sits on the outside looking in at the conference tournament playoff picture in sixth place. The Panthers are two wins behind fourth-place Pomona-Pitzer.

The tide turned for Claremont (16-4 overall, 7-1 SCIAC) midway through the third set, after both teams had split the first two. The Athenas rallied from a 17-12 deficit to go on a 10-2 run and led 22-19 en route to the pivotal win. Again Chapman led late in the fourth, but couldn't hang on as CMS caught the Panthers at 18-all and then finished with a 7-3 scoring run.

Claremont was led by Audrey Breitwieser who finished with 13 kills, while Nicole Kerkhof earned 11 kills and 20 digs for the Athenas.

Senior MB Val Geiger led the Panthers with 13 kills and six blocks (one solo, six assists) as Chapman recorded a season-high 10 team blocks. Geiger recorded five kills in the first set 25-17 win. Junior OH Michele Hammer added 11 kills and 12 digs.

Chapman will have the weekend off before hosting the University of Redlands next Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Hutton Center to begin the second half of the SCIAC season.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/wvball/2014-15/boxscores/20141007_edof.xml

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