LA VERNE, CA — The University of La Verne volleyball team dominated in the final two sets, scoring a huge 3-1 win over Chapman on Senior Night.

Set Score: 26-24, 17-25, 25-20, 25-11

Season Impact

With the win, La Verne improves to 18-9 overall and 10-5 in the SCIAC. Chapman drops to 19-6 overall and 10-5 in SCIAC play.

Conference Outlook

The Leopards helped out their postseason aspirations in a big way Friday night. The win puts La Verne in a tie for third place with Chapman. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has clinched the No. 1 seed with a 14-1 overall record. Cal Lutheran is currently in second place with an 11-5 record; the Regals have finished their conference slate.

Currently, sitting in fifth place are the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens win a 9-6 SCIAC record, making the Leopards game at Voelkel Gymnasium tomorrow even more crucial.

Stat Leaders

Kelsie Sievers had an outstanding game for the Leopards, leading all players with 17 kills. Kristen Sanchez finished with a game-high 23 digs, picking up several huge diving digs in the first set. Haley Celaya did it all for La Verne, putting down 14 kills to go with 12 digs. 

Madison Maynes dished out 45 assists in the match and added six kills. Katelyn Winiecki had a huge game for the Leopards. The senior totaled 11 kills and was part of three big-time blocks.

Emma Estigoy totaled 12 digs with Teagan Griffiths contributing five digs of her own. 

How it Happened

The first set was the closest in the match. Darrah Jones served up an ace to set up set-point, but the Panthers regrouped after a timeout to pull even 24-24. That only set up back-to-back kills from Celaya and Sievers to put the Leopards up 1-0.

Chapman took control late in the second set, going on a 7-3 run to even the overall score at a set apiece.

In the third, the Leopards showed how quickly they can forget a bad run and move forward. La Verne opened the frame on a 7-1 run to swing the momentum back in its favor. Chapman was able to crawl back into the set, cutting its deficit to one after a Leopard attack error.

But La Verne again retook control, scoring the next four points on the way to winning the set.

The Leopards dominated in the fourth set. Celaya put down one of her three aces in the match to give La Verne an early 9-1 lead. La Verne kept on rolling taking a 21-10 lead after another Celaya ace. Maynes out the final touches on the night, giving the Leopards the win off dump ball that faked out all of the Panthers.

Next Game

The Leopards play their final game of the regular season tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Pomona-Pitzer.

Senior Night

The Leopards honored seniors Teagan Griffiths, Kristen Sanchez, Kelsie Sievers, and Katelyn Winiecki in a brief pregame ceremony.