Over break, the Sagehens took a break from SCIAC opponents to play against Haverford and UC Santa Cruz in the Fall Classic Tournament at Cal Lutheran. The team went into break riding a winning streak and a strong 6-2 record in SCIAC, and hoping to build momentum for crucial matches down the stretch.
In the first game, Haverford managed to bring the Sagehens’ 6-game win streak come to an end, with a 3 – 1 victory. However, it was not the overall winning streak that was the important number. Rather, it was the 5 straight SCIAC wins that had them shooting up the standings. Thus, it was not the ensuing 3 – 2 victory against UC Santa Cruz that the team cared about either, but the SCIAC match against Occidental the following Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Unfortunately, the team could not solve the problem of Occidental’s attack, and they lost their first SCIAC match in nearly a month, falling by a score of 3 -2 (25-15, 20-25, 25-19, 16-25, 15-13). Opponent Logan Boyer-Hayse broke up the Sagehens’ front line, as she collected 24 kills with only 4 errors. Sarah Amos PI ‘10 and Eleanor Hughes PO ‘11 did their best to answer the attack, each logging 22 and 10 kills respectively, but the answer was not enough.
The loss was only P-P’s third in SCIAC, but it dropped them down to a tie for 3rd overall. Currently the Sagehens are 6-3 in conference and 12-10 overall. The team simply hasn’t been able to figure out how to beat Occidental, as two of their losses have come against the 3-6 Tigers.
Looking at the schedule for the remainder of the season, the Sagehens still must play Redlands (8-1), La Verne (7-3), and Cal Lutheran (6-3), the three teams that are ahead of them in the standings. It is likely that the fate of the Sagehens’ season hangs in the balance this weekend, as they play both Redlands and Cal Lutheran at home on back-to-back nights. Today, Friday, Oct. 23, the team plays Redlands with a 7:30 p.m. start time. Saturday, Oct. 24, the team plays Cal Lutheran at 6 p.m. If you have ever had any friends on the Volleyball team, or wanted to gain new friends, now would be the time to gain their favor. I guarantee they will thank you for coming out to these games, as they will need all of the energy from the crowd they can get.