Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif.-The Whittier College volleyball team went the distance Tuesday evening against the Panthers of Chapman University in a night where Breast Cancer Awareness was evident both on the court and in the stands.

Where ever you looked you saw pink, from Chapman's pink socks to Whittier's pink uniforms showing that support was being given by both programs.  But Whittier found the end of the night not as pleasing as they fell in five 25-27, 25-22, 20-25, 25-15, 7-15 to the top ranked team in SCIAC.

The previous time these two teams met, Whittier was on the losing end of a three set loss, but this time around Whittier came out aggressively achieving four set points in the first but giving up the lead and eventually the set.  In the second they stormed out in front and continued their aggressive play and maintained their small advantage grabbing the second.  In the third, Chapman jumped out in front but saw Whittier rally back only to drop the set.  In the fourth, the poets grabbed a big lead and opened the set up even more late in the set and finished off the Panthers before dropping a tight fifth set after trailing 11-4.

Whittier was led by Alyssa Sialaris who finished with a game high 24 kills on 68 attempts for a .279 hitting percentage.  She was joined by Lauren Whiteman and Alayna Rigo who each finished with 15 kills apiece.  Each of these players finished with double doubles finishing with 17, 10, and 21 digs, each respectively.

On Chapman's side, Ashleigh Gideon led the Panthers with 20 kills on 50 attempts, while Kate Ferrin finished with 16 kills on 35 attempts for a .400 hitting percentage.  But their defense was what pulled out the victory as they saw five players reach double digit digs including Gideon (22), Lena Buckendorf (21), Corrine Ostrovsky (10), Carleigh Muller (22), and Jenny Gibson (12).  This proved to be key in the Poet loss as the Panthers were able to keep the ball in play for a longer period of time allowing for more scoring opportunities.

Maria Montero got the nod at the setter position for the third straight game and she finished with 51 assists, while her counterpart Ostrovsky had a game high 57 assists. 

Sophomore Katie Heard led the Poets up front with four blocks assists, while Courtney DeLano and Whiteman each recorded three.

In the first set, Chapman jumped out in front 4-0, and despite hitting .245 as a team Whittier was unable to capitalize and finish off the first set after coming from behind to go up 10-8 and then 24-20.  The Panthers were able to fight off three set points and go out in front 25-24 and three points later they were able to pull off the first set 27-25.

In the second Whittier again fell behind 4-1 and then 7-2 but again climbed all the way back to tie up  the game 10-10 and take their first lead at 14-11 after they went on a 7-1 run.  Chapman answered with three points of their own to tie up the game once more at 14-14 and then again at 15-15 but that's as close as they would get as Whittier used a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 22-17.  Chapman did however fight back and pulled within one at 23-22 but a kill by Rigo and an ace by Montero sealed the set for the Purple & Gold.

The third set opened up as a seesaw battle with seven ties and three runs of four or more points strung together.  The set was all tied up at 9-9 before Chapman went on a 5-0 run to jump out in front 14-9, until the Poets answered with their own run rallying with five consecutive points to again pull even at 14-14.  But Chapman again stopped the Poet run and went on yet another 4-0 run that again put them in front by four 18-14 a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the set.

In the fourth, Whittier used an 11-2 run early to gain a five point lead 11-6, which they held onto a majority of the set until they extended their lead to eight at 24-15 before forcing a fifth and deciding set thanks to back to back kills from Rigo and Heard.

In the fifth and deciding set, Chapman jumped out to a 5-1 lead and then used a 4-0 run to extend their lead to 11-3.  Despite two points late, the Poets were unable to string together the big points when they needed to allowing the Panthers to escape with their 13^th SCIAC victory.

Whittier returns to the court for their final home contests for 2012 this Friday, October 26 when they host Caltech and UC Santa Cruz on Senior Day with games slated to begin at 4:00pm and 7:00pm.