Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College volleyball team threatened the Athena's of Claremont-M-S ranked No. 18 in the AVCA Polls Tuesday evening but couldn't pull off the upset as they fell in four 25-22, 15-25, 7-25, 23-25.

With the loss the Poets drop to 2-7, 1-2 SCIAC, while Claremont-M-S improves to 12-3, 3-0 SCIAC. 

The Poets fell behind early 5-0 in the first set but fought back to keep the deficit within two a majority of the frame until the latter stages when the Purple & Gold tied up the set at 19-19 and then took their first lead at 20-19 following kills from Casie Lowden (Glendora, Calif.) and Torrey Mitsunaga (Culver City, Calif.). 

Following two points from CMS, the Poets found themselves trailing by one once again but a 5-1 run capped off with back to back kills from freshman Alexis Mills (Ontario, Calif.) and Rebecca Slattery (Los Altos, Calif.) would give the Poets an early advantage.

But in the second and third, Athena freshman Margaux Arnston came alive and the Poets didn't have an answer as CMS would hit .273 and .667 en route to taking both sets 25-15 and 25-7 to go in front 2-1. 

In the fourth the Poets rebounded hanging tough despite trailing 5-2 early.  They managed to tie the game up at 12-12 and then 19-19 before finding themselves leading 22-21 following a service ace.  But a 4-1 run by the Athena's would stop the Poets chances to pull off the upset.

Lowden finished the game with 12 kills to go with two service aces and three digs.  Slattery was the other Poet in double figures with 11 kills, while Mitsunaga tallied a double double with 27 assists and 11 digs.  Defensively, the Poets saw two players have a strong game in the back row, including freshman Clarissa Standafer (Alta Loma, Calif.) and junior transfer Jennifer Estrada (Pasadena, Calif.) who had 17 and 15 digs, each respectively.

Whittier remains at home this Friday, September 26 as they take on the University of Redlands beginning at 7:30pm.