WHITTIER, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2024) – The Whittier College women's volleyball team, the third seed in this year's SCIAC Postseason Tournament, came up shy of advancing for a second year in a row, this year falling to the University of La Verne.
The Poets did manage to give a better account of themselves than they did last year, when they had the daunting task as the fourth-seeded team to travel to top-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. This time, the Poets had to contend with a Leopards team they defeated, 3-0, at home earlier in the season, and got to play the match in front of more than 100 Poets fans, parents, and fellow student-athletes in attendance.
Senio
Riley DeGroot (Ontario, Calif. / Ontario Christian / Mt. SAC)r played one of her best matches of the season. She came up with 11 kills and gave the host Leopards fits throughout all three sets of the match. However, the Poets did enter the match shorthanded, with star libero
Nadine Oronoz (Whittier, Calif. / Southland Christian / Rio Hondo College), a Second Team All-SCIAC selection in 2023, sidelined with an injury. La Verne offered little wiggle room with its strong run of form, and leaned on its own First Team All-SCIAC selection this year to wear the Poets down.
Whittier's best set, however, came in the third. The Poets even had a set point against the Leopards before La Verne turned it back and eventually stole a 26-24 final frame. The Poets will also be able to claim being the better team at the net by a slight margin. The Poets had nine total blocks to the Leopards' eight. Sophomore First Team All-SCIAC player
Mia D'Amato (Bakersfield, Calif. / Garces) factored in on five of those blocks, while senior difference makers
Analise Kusleika (Upland, Calif. / Upland) and
Xenia Villagomez (Corona, Calif. / Santiago), another First Team All-SCIAC selection, had four assisted blocks apiece.
Head Coach
Chris Duarte-McDermott and the Poets will look back on this season fondly, as they were able to match last year's program-high 11 SCIAC wins and improve to the third seed in the conference tournament. The Poets also reached an NCAA NPI of 51 at their highest point this season, which at the time ranked third among SCIAC teams. Whittier will now look to retool ahead of the 2025 season, where they will look to establish themselves as a top-two team in the conference.
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