The University of La Verne women’s volleyball team had a night to remember Nov. 4 as it swept past Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with a 3-0 victory, marking its 50th consecutive win in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
The Leopards performed a clean sweep against the Athenas with a 30-18, 30-22, 30-15 triumph. La Verne hit .286 for the night while restraining CMS to a .028 hitting percentage. ULV dominated the court with 10 total team blocks and 55 digs against the Athenas.
The match celebrated senior night with the recognition of Amy Kratochvil, Jennifer Stout, Tricia Schary, Amanda Thomas, Adele Jones and Sara Lupu, as coaches and loved ones congratulated the women on the conclusion of their volleyball careers.
Kratochvil led the Leopards with 13 kills and 11 digs, closely followed by Stout with 12 kills and seven digs for the night. Thomas tallied 30 set assists for the Leopards with Lupu totaling six digs. Schary added six kills with Jones contributing seven digs and four kills to the night’s success.
The historic 50th consecutive win towers over the previous record of 24 straight matches.
The program has not lost a contest since Oct. 31, 2000, against Occidental.
Head coach Don Flora said the win against Claremont would be the perfect finish to a great season and would clutch the championships in the team’s grasp.
“We just played our game, we have really good ball control, so when we pass well our balls go to the ground and we hit pretty well tonight,” Stout said. “The setting was great. All around we played good as a team. It was fun because we had all the seniors out there giving it their all for their last game at home.”
Lupu attributed the victory to the team’s consistency, tough serving and the excitement of playing in front of the La Verne home crowd.
“We played La Verne volleyball, we took care of our business, and finished up SCIAC how we wanted to finish, and now we’re ready to head into the playoffs,” Lupu said.
The Leopards will move on to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III West Regionals. The competition is scheduled for Nov. 11-13 at Cal State Hayward.
“We’re excited to be back in playoffs, it’s a totally different atmosphere and we’re ready to come out more energetic and play teams of a different caliber in the country,” Lupu said.
The team expects some strong competition going into the playoffs.
“West Regionals will provide some tough matches,” Kratochvil said. “Hopefully we will pull it out, we just need to play strong and show up every game.”
The Leopards hope to exceed their success from last year’s third place finish in NCAA Division III competition, by coming home with a National Championship.
“We’re expecting good competition going into West Regionals, it’s pretty much like another National Championship, so its going to be tough,” Stout said.
Flora believes the team will reach its goal of a National Championship with the right mentality in practice and continuing to focus on things that correlate with winning.
“We can be as good as anyone in the country at any given night, if we remain focused,” Flora said.
Nicole Knight can be reached at stareknight17@charter.net.