LA VERNE, CA — Three Leopards finished with double-digit kills and the University La Verne volleyball team took down the Caltech Beavers 3-1 Friday night.

Set Scores: 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-20

Season Impact

With the win, the Leopards keep pace with Cal Lutheran to remain in a tie for third place in the SCIAC. La Verne improves to 13-10 overall and 7-5 in the conference.

The Beavers, who are having one of their best seasons in program history, fall to 10-13 overall and 4-9 in the SCIAC.

Stat Leaders

Pi'ikea Clemens led the Leopards with 13 kills to go with 14 digs and one block. 

Haley Celaya had a big all-around game registering 12 kills, two aces, five digs, one block, and one assist. It's the sixth the straight game the sophomore has finished with at least 10 kills.

Ayana Mier finished with 10 kills and six blocks in the win. She also added three digs. 

Senior Darrah Jones and freshman Jasmine Chandler made the most of their attacking opportunities. Jones totaled seven kills on .357 hitting percentage to go with one block. Chandler led all players with a .462 hitting percentage with six blocks and two digs.

Junior Emma Estigoy led the Leopards with 33 digs to go with three assists and a pair of aces including the final point of the game.

Madison Maynes and Emily Heldenbrand split time at setter with Maynes finishing with 27 assists and 13 digs. Heldenbrand totaled 15 assists and 13 digs.

Rylee Callen added six kills, three blocks, and two digs and Jordyn Patton added six assists.

Lauren Li did her part to keep the Beavers in the game, finishing with a match-high 18 kills. Sydney Richardson totaled 11 kills.

How It Happened

The Leopards jumped out to a 19-11 lead in the opening set and looked set to roll to a 1-0 set lead. But the Beavers refused to go down and battled to cut the deficit to 23-21. Celaya and Chandler ensured Beavers wouldn't pull the early upset and put down the final two kills for La Verne.

The script flipped in the second set with the Beavers taking a 23-21 lead before a pair of kills from Richardson evened the match 1-1.

After trading points early in the third set, the Leopards jumped out to a 15-10 lead and stayed ahead of the Leopards the rest of the way to take the 2-1 lead.

La Verne used their best hitting of the night in the fourth set, hitting .349 as a team to complete the win.

Next Game

With just four matches left in the regular season, every opportunity for a win grows more important for the Leopards. La Verne gets back to action with a 4 p.m. match at Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday.