Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Volleyball team put together one of the best matches all season in front of their home crowd inside of a packed house within the Graham Athletic Center as they upset the No. 14 ranked team in Division III the University of La Verne 25-21, 22-25, 22-25, 25-15, 15-11.
Whittier improves now to 11-5, 5-3 SCIAC and just topped off the No. 1 team in SCIAC and their second Nationally Ranked Top 15 program (Previously they beat then No. 10 Trinity (TX). The last time the Poets beat the Leopards was back in in 2013 when they won on the road 3-1 (September 13, 2013). To find the last time the Poets defeated them at home you would have to go back to 2011 when Whittier pulled off the clean sweep (October 12, 2011).
This was a battle the entire night as the Poets faced a 2-1 deficit only to come back to pull off the stunner.
"I am really proud of the team tonight and the resilience that we showed," explained Head Coach Chris Duarte-McDermott. "It's never easy to go to five sets, and to pull off the win against a talented and nationally ranked program like La Verne is an incredible accomplishment."
The Poets donning their new Purple uniforms with Gold trim fed off of the energy of the Poet faithful taking the first set 25-21 sending a shockwave through the La Verne crowd. WC hit .324 in the frame and used a 4-1 run midway through with kills from Makenzie Thieme (Corona, Calif.) and Jazmyn Sudbrook-Johnson (Fremont, Calif.) to go in front 15-10. This proved crucial as ULV would storm back to tie things up at 16-16. But the Poets didn't back away as Alexis Mills (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) would connect 1-2 with Camryn Purdom (Moreno Valley, Calif.) in the middle while Ashley Whittall (Norwalk, Calif.) connected from the outside giving Whittier some momentum.
The Leopards managed to knot things up at 20-20 soon after but that's as close as they would get as Whittier would capitalize on three ball handling errors giving them a set point, which they would get as Thieme would lay the hammer down.
In the second, the Poets put ULV in a tough hole at 19-12 following a 6-0 run sparked by the serving from Clarissa Standafer (Alta Loma, Calif.). Poised to go up 2-0 with everything going their way, WC faltered as ULV stormed back winning nine of the next ten points to go in front for the first time at 21-20. Alaina Rhee (Kent, WA) stopped the run with a kill from the middle but this time around La Verne was able to squeeze out three of the final four points to level the match at 1-1.
In the third, it was back and forth but WC managed to stay out in front until the 17-17 mark. Thieme put the Poets up 21-20 following a big kill off the front block but again ULV was able to rally winning five of the next six points to go in front 2-1.
In the fourth it was all Purple & Gold as they hit .333 controlling the entire stanza. They went in front 11-7 and then extended that to 14-7 following three big serves from Hannah Joyce (Newport Beach, Calif.). The Leopards got within six at 16-10 but again the attack by Thieme and Whittall was too much as the lead stretched to eight. Things got worse after that for La Verne as Rhee and Thieme teamed up with two kills, while ULV suffered two ball handling errors that gave WC a 23-13 lead. Then after a service error gave the Poets a set point, Whittall would level things at 2-2 with a kill up the line.
In the fifth, it came down to which team could get out of the starting gates the quickest and the Poets did just that behind Standafer serving, which led to easy set-ups for Thieme and Purdom. They led 4-1 but couldn't extend it until late capitalizing on an attacking error followed by kills from Mills and Thieme moving the score to 11-7.
ULV got within three on three different occasions soon after but they couldn't solve the balanced attack by Rhee and Whittall who solidified the upset with two kills.
Thieme had a match putting down 26 kills on 52 attempts for a .346 hitting percentage along with 11 digs. She was joined by Whittall who tossed in 12 kills, while putting up 16 digs in the backrow and Sudbrook-Johnson would register seven.
Purdom put together another career high in assists as she put up 38 assists running point, while Standafer led the back row with 18 digs. Rhee despite only having five kills played big up front finishing with five blocks, while Mills was a kill away from doubled digits with nine kills, hitting .316.
Whittier returns to their non-conference schedule this weekend as they play in the La Verne Invitational Friday-Saturday, October 6-7. There they will take on Scranton (6th @ 12:00pm), Austin (7th @ 2:00pm), and UC Santa Cruz (7th @ 4:00pm).
