Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College volleyball team played all five sets for only the second time this season but fell just short of the comeback as Pomona-Pitzer held off a late rally by the Poets for the 3-2 win on Thursday evening.

Whittier (2-14, 1-6 SCIAC) was down 2-0 and faced a 23-12 third game deficit before it began its comeback bid.

The Poets rattled off six straight points which includes an ace from freshman Lauren Whiteman to make the score 23-18. The Sagehens (10-6, 4-3 SCIAC) pushed the game to match point with a kill from Sophie Tweed-Simmons but an error on Pomona-Pitzer and back-to-back kills by Alayna Rigo pulled the purple and gold within two points at 24-22.

After a timeout by Pomona-Pitzer, Shannon Orlins recorded one of her two aces on the evening. An error on the Sagehens was followed by a block assist from Rigo and Courtney Dickerson and the eventual game winning point from Rigo to keep the Poets alive.

In Game 4 no team held an advantage over three points with the Sagehens claiming its largest lead at 17-14. Whittier had its back to the wall trailing 22-20 but scored seven of the next 10 points to force a deciding Game 5 with a 27-25 win. Two of WC's final six points were aces.

Whittier got down early in the start of the final game but turned a 6-1 hole into a one-point, 7-6, deficit. However, WC would never get closer to the lead. The Sagehens build as much as a 14-9 advantage and held off a late charge from the Poets for the 15-12, Game 5, win.

The line score read 25-21, 25-23, 24-26, 27-25, 15-12 in favor of Pomona-Pitzer.

Rigo led the Poets, and the game, with 19 kills on 58 attempts. Dickerson hit double digits in kills with 10 while Ashley Terich had a match-high 48 assists. Whittier had 13 aces led by a Terich who had three.

Alyssa Acosta finished with 32 digs, Nicole Boyer had 24 and Rigo recorded 20.

The Poets will play its third match in as many days as they host Claremont-M-S tomorrow evening at 7:30 pm.