LOS ANGELES — The No. 21 University of La Verne women's volleyball team traveled to Los Angeles on Friday and beat Occidental College in straight sets, recording their third sweep in a row. The win against the Tigers moved the Leopards into second place in the SCIAC with a 9-2 conference record and improved to 18-2 overall. 

Mya Ray led La Verne offensively with 15 kills, Ayana Mier added eight kills, and Lauren Gott finished with seven. Ray leads the SCIAC with 334 kills.

"It was a good conference win for us tonight," said Univerisity of La Verne volleyball head coach Jeff Hendershot. "Mya Ray had another outstanding performance, and we had a well-balanced attack from all positions. It was a good way to finish off this week, and we look forward to heading into a difficult week coming up."

After the Leopards got a lead early in the first set, the Tigers cut the deficit to three. But La Verne went on a four-point run to surge ahead of Occidental. The Leopards sealed the set with a kill from Gott assisted by Malia Capistrano, securing a 25-19 set win. Capistrano finished with a game-high 33 assists.

The start of the second set was a battle, with the Leopards and Tigers trading points early. La Verne pulled away late, scoring five out of the last six points. Kiley McGarry served one of her three aces to seal the set for the Leopards.
La Verne dominated early in the third set and jumped out to a 10-1 lead. The Tigers didn't quit and fought back to tie the set 19-19. But it was all La Verne from there as the Leopards again closed out on a  6-1 run to finish the sweep.

The Leopards showed their experience defensively, led by Malia Capistrano's eight digs. May contributed seven digs, and Nalani Young added six.

The Leopards host No. 6 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday, October 24th at 7 P.M.