Back-to-back sweeps on the final day of the regular season punctuated a strong finish to the regular season for the University of La Verne as it took down Whittier in three sets followed by a sweep of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Senior Night at Frantz Athletic Court.
The senior quartet of Catie Logan, Kendall Kraiss, Randi Taylor-Toomay and Kayla Cribbs each took their final bows on their home court prior to administering a 3-0 sweep of the Athenas by scores of 28-26, 25-17 and 25-19.
CMS needed a win to keep its hopes alive for a SCIAC Postseason Tournament berth, but were denied at the hands of the Leopards who earned their fourth straight win to finish the regular season at 21-4 overall with a 13-3 mark in conference play.
The Leopards led 16-11 in the first set only to watch CMS rattle off four consecutive points to get within one to close the gap to 16-15. The Leos regained control and led 20-17 off a Taylor-Toomay kill, CMS fought back with 3-0 run to knot the frame at 20. The two squads traded the next eight points before the Athenas' Courtney Searls recorded a kill to give the visitors a set point at 25-24.
Taylor-Toomay responded with a kill to forge a tie at 25 with Searls countering with yet another kill to give CMS the lead. Taylor-Toomay answered right back with a termination to knot the affair once again at 26. A CMS attack error on the next point gave the Leos an opening, and they would take advantage on a kill from freshman Brittany Yaxley to win the set at 28-26.
La Verne led throughout the entire second set, building an early 9-4 lead on the Athenas. The Leopards maintained their cushion with leads of 15-9 and 20-13 before ending the frame with a kill from Destinee Sales for a 25-17 set victory.
In the third set, the Leos held the early advantage by taking a 11-7 lead on a kill from Cribbs. The Athenas narrowed the deficit and got to within one at 12-11, but La Verne used a decisive 6-0 run to go up 18-11. From there, La Verne closed out the match on a pair of kills from Taylor-Toomay. At 23-16, Senior Night fittingly concluded with back-to-back kills from Kraiss to give the Leopards a three-set victory.
The Glendora High tandem of Taylor-Toomay (17) and Yaxley (13) led the Leopard attack combining for 30 kills while Cribbs finished with 9 terminations. Kraiss totaled 37 assists while Donahue - who reached the 1,000-dig milestone for her career - tallied a team-high 22 digs for the match.
Regina Mullen led CMS with 16 kills while Megan Coleman collected a match-high 26 digs in the defeat.
La Verne began the day with a 3-0 sweep of Whittier by scores of 25-21, 25-8 and 25-20 to register its 20th win of the season.
The Leos never trailed in the first set, taking an early 8-3 advantage. Whittier climbed back into the contest on the strength of a 4-1 run, as back-to-back kills from Alyssa Sialaris help knot the frame at 16. La Verne responded by reeling off five consecutive points which included three kills from Taylor-Toomay to take a 21-16 lead. The Leos ended the set on a kill from Logan to win 25-21 to go up 1-0.
La Verne was never threatened in the second set, scoring the first seven points and would later go on a 12-1 run to grab a 19-2 lead. Consecutive kills from Taylor-Toomay put the finishing touches on a 25-8 set triumph for a 2-0 lead.
The Leopards hit .311 against the Poets with five players posting at least six kills in the sweep.
Yaxley led the La Verne attack against Whittier with 12 kills followed by the quartet of seniors. Taylor-Toomay posted 10 kills while Cribbs, Logan and Kraiss added 9, 7 and 6 kills, respectively. Logan enjoyed a .583 hitting percentage with Kraiss hitting .545.
Sialaris paced Whittier with 15 kills.
La Verne locked up the #3 seed for next week's SCIAC Postseason Tournament and will face Chapman (22-5, 14-2) in the semifinal round on Thursday, November 1.
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