Boxscore

In a showdown between a pair of one-loss teams in conference play, the University of La Verne fell to Chapman University in four sets (25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 25-27) in a SCIAC play at the Hutton Sports Center Saturday in Orange. 

With the win, Chapman (17-4, 10-1 SCIAC) moved a one-half game ahead of Cal Lutheran (9-1) and La Verne (10-2) in the conference standings.  The loss snapped the Leopards' season-high nine-match winning streak

The hotly-contested match was separated by just four points, with the Panthers reversing fortunes from a five-set road loss to the Leopards a month ago in La Verne.

La Verne won the first set 25-23 behind seven kills from Randi Taylor-Toomay in the frame.  Tied at 22, La Verne took three of the next four points on a pair of Taylor-Toomay kills along with a Panther attack error. 

Chapman dominated the early stages of the second set by scoring the first seven points.  La Verne responded with a 10-3 run culminating on a kill from Kendall Kraiss to even the frame at 10-10.  The two squads continued to battle through the late stages.  Tied at 23, the Panthers scored on a kill from Ashleigh Gideon followed by a Leopard ball handling error to knot the contest at a set apiece.

In the third set, Chapman took leads of 14-10 and 17-13 only to watch La Verne rally back to tie the score on both occasions.  Chapman broke a 21-21 tie with three straight points and at 24-23 closed out the set with a kill from Kate Ferrin to grab a 2-1 set advantage.

With La Verne led 17-13 in the fourth set before Chapman went on an 8-2 run to take a 21-19 lead.  The Leopards would fight off four match points but eventually fell 27-25 on consecutive kills from McKenna Roice and Lena Buckendorf as the Panthers gained sole possession of first place.

La Verne enjoyed a higher hitting percentage than the Panthers (.228 to .165), but suffered through 13 receiving errors on the evening.  Chapman tallied 11 total blocks and 74 digs compared to 10 and 73, respectively, for the Leopards.

Taylor-Toomay finished with a team-high 16 kills for the match with Kraiss, Kayla Cribbs and Brittany Yaxley adding 9 kills apiece.  Kraiss collected 43 assists on the evening.

Roice posted eight block assists and was one of three Panthers with double-digit kills with 11.  Gideon finished with 14 kills and a team-high 23 digs in the match. Val Geiger added six block assists and eight kills.

La Verne will face yet another strong challenge as it plays host to defending league champion Cal Lutheran Tuesday night in a 7:30 pm start at Frantz Athletic Court.