WHITTIER, Calif. — Delaney Lynch finished with a team-high 14 kills, but the No. 14 University of La Verne volleyball team fell in five sets on the road against the Whittier College Poets 3-2.

Set Scores: 25-21, 22-25, 22-25, 25-15, 15-11

Season Impact: The Leopards drop just their second SCIAC game of the year, moving to 6-2 in conference play and 12-3 overall. Whittier improves to 5-3 in the SCIAC and 11-5 overall.

After the Poets took the opening 1-0 lead, the Leopards battled back in the second and third sets, to take the 2-1 advantage.

Whittier evened things up in the fourth set with a 10 point win to force the fifth set. 

Despite hitting .368 as a team in the match, the Leopards fell behind 4-0 early in the set and couldn't recover.

Kelsie Sievers finished with double-digit kills, finishing with 11 to go with four block assists in the game.

Marisa Rojo and Alexia Balistreri each added eight kills in the contest. Balistreri was also big at the net, finishing with five block assists. 

Libero Kristen Sanchez led all players with 19 digs. Madison Maynes totaled 22 assists and Natalie Barragan added 18 assists.

Next Game: The Leopards will take a break from conference play to host the Leopard Invitational this Friday and Saturday. La Verne opens with a 6 p.m. match on Friday against Austin and finishes with a Saturday doubleheader against Scranton at noon and UC Santa Cruz at 6 p.m.

For more information visit the Leopard Invitational home page.