LA VERNE, CA — The No. 15 University of La Verne volleyball team dominated from start to finish and completed a perfect week with a 3-0 win over Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday evening.
The Leopards won their fifth straight game and improved to 14-3 overall and 6-1 in the SCIAC. Pomona-Pitzer fell to 10-7 overall and 5-2 in conference play. La Verne sits in second place in the conference, a half-game behind No. 11 Claremont-Mudd-Scrippps (7-1).
Zacky Coaston continued her hot streak in the win. The sophomore from Fontana led the Leopards with six blocks, added eight kills on .467 hitting, and finished with two digs.
Allison Whiteman led the Leopards with 10 kills on .348 hitting with two blocks, four digs, and one ace.
Lauren Gott tallied nine kills, eight digs, two aces, and one block.
La Verne went on a 14-3 run to take a 21-6 lead deep in the first set, highlighted by back-to-back aces from setter
Vanessa Marquez. The junior from Upland led the Leopards with 21 assists and added 10 digs.
The Sagehens kept paced with the Leopards early in the second but La Verne pulled away late and took a 10-point lead off a kill from
Kimi Watanabe-Mayhew and a Sagehen error.
CC Flaherty stepped in to serve the final point, and Watanabe-Mayhew put the set away.
Pomona-Pitzer fought in the third but couldn't slow the Leopards' best offensive set of the night. The Leopards finished with a .310 hitting percentage in the match, highlighted by .353 hitting in the third set. La Verne held the Sagehens to .114 hitting.
Watanabe-Mayhew finished with four kills, four blocks, and five digs.
Madison Smith ended with a team-high 13 digs to go with three aces.
Mya Ray totaled a game-high four aces, six kills, 10 digs, and one block.
Kaitlyn Bloomer tallied four kills and two blocks.
Malia Capistrano finished with two aces, five digs, and one kill.
The Leopards celebrated Capistrano for surpassing 1,300 career assists in a pregame ceremony. The sophomore is currently 10th on the Leopards' all-time assists list with 1,391 assists
La Verne looks to make it six wins in a row when they travel to Eagle Rock to face Occidental College on Tuesday, October 15 at 7 p.m.
