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The University of La Verne volleyball team opened SCIAC conference action on a winning note by dispatching of Pomona-Pitzer in a 3-1 verdict Friday evening at Frantz Athletic Court.
With a 2-1 set lead, La Verne finished off the Sagehens in the fourth set with a decisive run of six unanswered points to turn a 21-19 deficit into a 25-21 set triumph to claim victory. Four different La Verne players posted kills to go along with a pair of Pomona-Pitzer errors during the run to seal the match.
The Leopards jumped out to a two sets to none lead before the Sagehens avoided the sweep with a win in the third set. However, La Verne closed with the aforementioned 6-0 run to improve to 8-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play. The Sagehens dropped to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in league action.
La Verne cruised to a 1-0 lead thanks to a .278 hitting percentage. Tied at 11-11, the Leos went on a 5-1 spurt to grab a 16-12 advantage. The Sagehens would get no closer than three points as the Leos pulled away in the final stages, culminating on a Catie Logan kill to win the opening set 25-16.
In the second set, the Sagehens led early 7-4 before La Verne won seven of the next eight points for an 11-8 cushion. The Leos maintained their lead, extending the advantage to six at 23-17 before eventually finishing with a 25-18 set win to go up 2-0.
Pomona-Pitzer took the third set by virtue of a strong finish. Tied at 17-17, the Hens reeled off six consecutive points to grab a 23-17 lead en route to a 25-19 verdict to cut the Leopard deficit to 2-1.
Randi Taylor-Toomay paced La Verne with a match-high 13 kills with Logan, who hit .409 on the evening, adding 11 kills. Brittany Yaxley finished with 8 terminations. Kendall Kraiss dished out a match-high 29 assists while Morgan Donahue collected a match-high 29 digs. Pomona-Pitzer's Michelle Schultz tallied a team-high 9 kills in a losing effort.
La Verne will resume action Tuesday night when it travels to Thousand Oaks to take on AVCA No. 6 Cal Lutheran in a 7:30 pm start.