Volleyball just short of upset in Senior Night battle

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University volleyball team put No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the ropes but came up just shy of an upset in a five-set loss. The Panthers celebrated their three seniors before the match – their final home match of the season.

After dropping the first set, Chapman roared back to take sets two and three. The Athenas answered by winning the final two sets to take the match 25-21, 18-25, 20-25, 25-19, 15-8.

Seniors Jessi Lumsden and Sophie Srivastava led the charge against the Athenas, who had previously lost just one set in SCIAC play. Lumsden had a match-high 22 kills on .237 hitting while Srivastava added in her NCAA Division III leading 31st career triple-double with 14 kills, 32 assists and 17 digs. She has had at least 10 triple-doubles in all three of her seasons.

Senior Erika Wiles added four kills, nine digs and a pair of service aces while junior Cat Helgeson, who surpassed 1,000 digs last week, had 24 more in this match. Junior Leighton Gagnon had a career-best 16 kills.

After falling in a close first set, the Panthers went up 3-1 out of the gates in the second set and methodically built it up to a 14-7 lead. The Panthers did not allow CMS to go on a run in the second set as they were able to immediately sideout on all but two points in the set.

With momentum on their side, the Panthers strung together four points early in the third thanks to a block from freshman Maddy Dowdall and one of Srivastava's 14 kills. Chapman again methodically built up its lead with immediate sideouts and a couple of short runs to 15-10. CMS cut the lead to two 22-20 but and a service ace from freshman Annika Ruud was sandwiched between a pair of Srivastava kills to give Chapman a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Athenas started off the fourth set with a service and later watched Jackie Jones slam down four kills in a row for an early 11-7 lead. The Panthers closed to within one when a kill from Dowdall made it 16-15 but CMS responded with a 6-2 run to go up 22-17 and eventually capture the set. Chapman started the fifth set in a 4-0 hole and never recovered as CMS avoided the upset.

Jones matched Lumsden's match-high with 22 kills. Dede Carranza added 21 digs to lead the Athenas.

Chapman wraps up the regular season on Saturday at 4 p.m. when the Panthers take on Pomona-Pitzer in Roberts Pavilion on the campus of Claremont McKenna College. Chapman will face the same Pomona-Pitzer team in the semifinals of the SCIAC Tournament as the Sagehens clinched the No. 2 seed and Chapman will be the No. 3 seed.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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