Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. (Oct. 5, 2021) – The Whittier College volleyball team put forth a tremendous team effort and ultimately found its rhythm against SCIAC foe Caltech on Tuesday night. The 3-0 victory gave the Poets their second SCIAC win of the year at the near halfway point in the conference schedule.

The match will go down as one of the Poets' most dominant wins at this point in the season. Whittier led way for all but six points in large part due to the team's ability to control things at the net while overpowering Caltech from the outside. Once the Poets showed they were able to erase a narrow Beavers lead midway through the second set, they began to fire on all cylinders improving to a .267 attacking percentage in the second and a .375 percentage in the third. Seniors Franki Piloto (Ontario, Calif. / Pomona Catholic) and Katelyn Popoff (Hacienda Heights, Calif. / Sonora) found themselves at the center of at the center of the Poets' mid-match dominance with Popoff's nine kills leading all players while Piloto (eight kills) netted a .333 percentage on 18 attacks. 

Defensively, the Poets had an answer for most of what the Beavers could offer on their end of the court. Senior Julia Trujillo (Chino, Calif. / Univ. of La Verne) started at libero and made the most of her opportunity with seven digs and team-high three service aces. Popoff, along with classmate and defensive specialist Madisen Diaz (Hacienda Heights, Calif. / Bishop Amat), combined for 25 digs to make up nearly half of their team total. Junior setter Della Trimble (Saratoga, Calif. / West Valley College) also played a major role in the Poets' mounting success on Tuesday, garnering 27 assists with 20 coming between sets two and three. She also added one Whittier's nine aces on the match. Trimble's accuracy futher allowed other players to get heavily involved in the Whittier attack, such as junior Kaitlin Bullock (Rocklin, Calif. / Humboldt State) and sophomore Xenia Villagomez (Corona, Calif. / Santiago), who had seven and six kills apiece. At one point, the Poets had gotten in sync to the point of beginning the second set on a 20-6 run that featured kills on half the points. Popoff, along accounted for six of her kills during this stratch.

The Poets put a similar run together midway through the third set when they jumped out to a 21-11 lead after winning 13 of the previous 18 points. This part of the match featured four Whittier service ace: two from Trujillo and two from Popoff and ultimately sank the Beavers for good. Other contributors for the Poets included Analise Kusleika (Upland, Calif. / Claremont), who had four assisted blocks to go with one solo and Brooke Sasaki (La Palma, Calif. / John F. Kennedy), who picked up an ace and won seven points off her serve in a substitute role.

Head Coach Chris Duarte-McDermott and the Poets will look to make it consecutive wins when they travel to the University of Redlands (2-10, 0-6 SCIAC) on Friday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.

Follow and show support for your Whittier Poets on Twitter (@WCPoets), Facebook, YouTube and Instagram (@PoetAthletics)!