CLAREMONT, Calif. — Brittany Yaxley, who etched her name amongst the La Verne greats with an All-American selection last season, solidified her status as one of the best players in program history on Tuesday night.
The senior registered 16 kills against Pomona-Pitzer to become La Verne's all-time kills leader, surpassing Crista Jones '10's old record of 1,446 late in the second set.
But her effort was not enough as the Leopards looked out of sync, dropping a 26-24, 25-23, 25-19 decision to the Sagehens at Voelkel Gymnasium. La Verne finishes the SCIAC season 13-3 and falls to 19-5 overall. The Leopards would have clinched at least a share of the 2015 SCIAC Championship with a victory, but now must hope both Cal Lutheran and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps drop at least one match each.
Yaxley added a 15 digs and two blocks to go along with her kills. Destinee Sales had 10 kills and two blocks. Tiffany Mancuso had a match-high 36 assists and added seven digs.
After going down early in the first set, the Leopards roared back to take a 22-21 lead on a kill by Yaxley. But the Sagehens took the next three points to set up the set point and held on for a 26-24 win.
La Verne battled all the way through a back-and-forth second set to take a 23-22 lead, but once again, Pomona-Pitzer went on a 3-0 run to take a decisive two-set lead.
The Leopards took an early 6-5 lead in a do-or-die third, but the Sagehens claimed the next four points to take a 9-6 advantage and never looked back, leading by as much as nine points. Yaxley put away three straight kill to lead a late 4-0 run get the Leopards within 23-18, but it was too little, too late.
La Verne, who had already secured a spot in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament, travel to San Antonio this weekend for Trinity University Tournament on Oct. 30-31 before starting the postseason next week. The SCIAC Postseason Tournament begins on Nov. 5.