Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LOS ANGELES – The Whittier College volleyball team dropped its season finale on Tuesday evening to Occidental College, 3-0. The Poets' final record sits at 7-22 overall, 2-12 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Whittier played the SCIAC Postseason Tournament bound Tigers close in Game 1 as the score was even at 13. Occidental scored the game's next three points but the purple and gold stayed alive by cutting the deficit to 16-14.
However, the Tigers rolled off the next seven points and went on for the 25-15, Game 1 victory.
Occidental used another big run to take control in the second game as it turned a 6-4 lead into a 15-4 advantage with nine consecutive points. Whittier was able to run off three straight points late in the game but it was too little, too late. The Tigers won Game 2, 25-10.
The third and final set of the evening was the most competitive but Occidental still came out on top, 25-18. Whittier led 9-5 but a 4-0 run by the Tigers evened the score at 9-9. The Poets traded points with Occidental over the next six points but a 5-0 run opened the gap for the Tigers.
Whittier made a late run but it wasn't enough in the seven-point loss.
As a team the Poets managed 14 kills but had 15 errors for an attacking percentage of -.012. Courtney Dickerson led the purple and gold with six kills while Shannon Orlins and Lindsey Kish each had three.
Ashley Terich had a team-high 13 assists and tied Alayna Rigo for a team leading two aces. Alyssa Acosta recorded eight digs and the Poets finished with 3.0 total team blocks.
