Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

LA VERNE, Calif. – The Whittier College Volleyball team put together a strong performance at the Leopard Invitational Friday as they extended their winning streak to seven games sweeping UC Santa Cruz before nearly pulling off the biggest upset in program history falling to No. 2 Juniata.

With the split the Poets move to 14-6, 5-3 SCIAC and currently sit in fourth place in the SCIAC Standings.  Their winning streak ends at seven games, which is the longest in program history, and are now one win shy of the most wins in a single season (15) since 1994.     

Match 1 (UC Santa Cruz; W, 25-16, 25-16, 30-28)

The previous time these two programs met, Whittier earned a clean sweep back on September 12 during the Posada Royale Invitational and still have not surrendered a set to the Banana Slugs.  Whittier used a big offensive attack hitting .282 for the match, which included sets of .333, .227, and .310 led by Rebecca Slattery (Los Altos, Calif.) who finished with 14 kills on 30 attempts hitting a season high .400, while picking up three block assists.

Whittier jumped in front in the first set 12-5 and never looked back as they used a 6-1 run midway through the frame to go in front 1-0.  The second set proved the same result with Whittier holding a single digit lead throughout before rattling off a run of five straight before the Banana Slugs mounted a comeback of six in a row to pull within eight.  But an ensuing attacking error by UCSC would give the Poets the frame putting themselves in an early hole. 

The final set, UCSC managed to battle pushing the Purple & Gold taking a lead of 15-8 but an ensuing 11-2 run would put the Poets back on top 19-17.  Whittier faced four set points against them but was able to scrap back to even the final set each time before Slattery would roll off back to back to back kills that secured the clean sweep.

Casie Lowden (Glendora, Calif.) would finish with seven kills on 18 attempts for a .389 hitting percentage, while totaling 18 digs.  Olive Anagu (Culver City, Calif.) would collect nine kills, while Torrey Mitsunaga (Culver City, Calif.) and Jasmine Tong (Fullerton, Calif.) would split the setting duties once again finishing with 19 and 14 assists, respectively.

In the back row, Tong would finish with 12 digs, while Jennifer Estrada (Pasadena, Calif.) would collect 14.  Haley Whyte (Mission Viejo, Calif.) was nearly perfect in the middle finishing 7-of-10 for a .700 hitting percentage and had three block assists.               

Match 2 (No. 2 Juniata; L, 25-21, 33-31, 25-16)

In the second match-up of the Leopard Invitational, Whittier found themselves pinned against No. 2 Juniata but stood tough threatening the Eagles in each set nearly pulling off one of the biggest upsets in program history.

Whittier found themselves in a seesaw battle in the first set knotting things up at 15-15 after taking the lead early on three different occasions.  But a stretch of five points would give the Eagles a 20-16 lead and despite a late surge by the Purple & Gold to pull within one at 21-20 and then again at 22-21, Juniata would earn the final three points to take the first set.

Juniata got out to a demanding 14-4 lead in the second but the Poets would climb back into the match going point-for-point with the Eagles using a 10-2 run to pull within two at 19-17.  Whittier found themselves with a set point at 25-24 following an attacking error by Glenn Brumm but she would connect on the very next point to tie things up at 25-25.  From that point, it was back and forth until the Eagles would string together two to edge WC 33-31. 

Then in the third, despite being down two, Whittier fought and made it a set not going away quietly staying within striking distance before Juniata would wrap things up with a 7-2 run that gave them the sweep. 

Slattery finished with 12 kills and had two block assists.  Lowden had six kills with 14 digs, Anagu had seven, Estrada totaled 12 digs in the backrow and Mitsunaga picked up 15 assists. 

Whittier has the weekend off but will begin preparations for the second round of SCIAC play as they host the University of La Verne Tuesday, October 13 beginning at 7:30pm. 

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