Spikers fall short against Pomona-Pitzer in 5
Campus Times
October 4, 1996
Pomona Pitzer women's volleyball team defeated the Leopards last Friday
night playing all the way to five games at Pomona, 15-12, 10-15, 13-15,
15-10 and 15-12.
Though the first game was tied 11-11, University of La Verne just could
not come out on top. As for the second and third games it was a different
story.
Right away in the second game ULV came out with a tough block by freshman
Sarah Henry and junior Michelle Runyan, bringing the team to a 2-0 lead.
Henry scored again seconds later off a set from junior Mercury Simonian,
in which Henry slammed the ball just in side the court.
On the next serve Pomona tried to dig the ball which only led to the ball
flying across the gym and La Verne scoring again. Pomona's next attempt
to side out was also a failure when one of their hits were just too long,
so Pomona took a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout Pomona hit the ball into the net letting ULV score
again to take a 6-0 lead.
A double hit violation was called on La Verne which put the Sagehens on
the score board for the first time.
"This game was one of our better matches that we have played all year,"
said head coach Jim Paschal.
Junior Jill Seaton had a power hit leaving Pomona with their mouths left
open. Senior Denise Rice aced a serve, but ULV lost the ball on the next
serve because of too many hits.
Freshman Kim Bell sided out for ULV with a hard out side hit and Rice scored
by lightly tipping the ball from the middle spot.
An intense rally was finished by Bell clobbering the ball, 12-7.
With another block by freshman Allison Moore and Henry, La Verne almost
ended the game, but Bell misjudged the ball which ended up being inside
the line and the Sagehens had another chance.
Another rattling rally ended when Rice shanked the ball into the net. Then
finally, after continuous side outs, La Verne took the second game with
Henry hitting the ball hard to Pomona and Leopards with the win, 15-10.
Throughout the third game Moore had two key blocks and one kill.
The game ended with ULV winning, 15-13.
The last two games were disappointing though they were close scores, ULV
lost both.
During the last game La Verne was up 10-5 at one point. "Anytime any
team is up 10-5 in the fifth game you should win," said Paschal.
Leopards only scored two points while Pomona scored 10. ULV had three balls
blocked that hurt them and La Verne lost their momentum.
La Verne just could not put the ball away. Pomona saw ULV was sinking and
they attacked.
"When you lose your momentum in a rally scoring game you are in trouble,"
said Paschal. "Before we knew it, it was 13-12, and Pomona was up.
It was frustrating losing the fifth game. Pomona is a good team."
Saturday night, the Leopards traveled north to Master's College, where they
were defeated in three games, 15-4, 15-4, and 16-14.
"They jumped all over us," said Paschal. "In the second game
we made an effort to come back, but we weren't consistent. We were pretty
flat on Saturday after Friday's game and that's what hurt us."