CLAREMONT, CA — The No. 15 University of La Verne volleyball team played one of their best matches of the season and upset the No. 11 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas on their home court Friday night.

It was the Leopards' first win on the Athenas' home court since 2016. La Verne improved to 13-3 overall and 5-1 in the SCIAC. CMS dropped to 12-4 overall and 6-1 in the SCIAC. 

Mya Ray shined in front of an energetic crowd at Robert's Pavilion. The SCIAC leader in kills added 18 more in the win to bring her season total to 225. Zacky Coaston, who leads the SCIAC with 73 blocks, finished with nine kills and nine blocks. Ray added 11 digs, six blocks, and three aces.

The Leopards rolled in the first set hitting .423 to the Athenas' .057 to win 15-13 and put CMS on notice early in the match. La Verne scored seven straight points to take a commanding 14-5 lead midway through the set sparked by an ace from Madison Smith. Smith finished with 11 digs and five aces.

Later in the set, leading 16-10, the Leopards went on another seven-point run, highlighted by three kills from Ray and one each from junior Kaitlyn Bloomer and freshman Kimi Watanabe-Mayhew. Bloomer had a big game defensively, totaling seven blocks to go with three kills. Watanabe-Mayhew played an outstanding all-around game, finishing with seven kills and six blocks.

The momentum carried into the second set and the Leopards again pulled away midway through, taking a 19-13 lead off a kill from Lauren Gott. Watanabe-Mayhew put down the final kill in the set to put the Leopards up 2-0. The sophomore tallied 15 digs, six kills, and an ace.

The Athenas took a close third set, but La Verne surged again in the fourth to complete the win.

Allison Whiteman did it all for La Verne. She ended with seven kills, seven digs, and five blocks. 

Vanessa Marquez led the Leopards with 21 assists to go with six digs. Malia Capistrano totaled 15 assists, five digs, and two aces. 

La Verne returns home on Saturday to play Pomona-Pitzer at 6 p.m.