Senior outside hitter Kaylee Johnson sends over a spike while Caltech freshman middle blocker Julia Fay and opposite senior hitter Suzannah Osekowsky attempt to block. The Leopards defeated the Beavers, 3-0, Tuesday at Frantz Athletic Court. / photo by Annette Paulson
Jacob Whannel
Staff Writer
The women’s volleyball team continued to assert its dominance Tuesday night as it swept the Caltech Beavers, 3-0, at Frantz Athletic Court.
The Leopards have now won four matches in a row and have only lost one set of their last 13.
La Verne is now 12-4 overall and 6-2 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
After playing Caltech, the Leopards have finished the first round of conference play, and will move to hosting the Leopard Invitational this weekend.
The midseason tournament will allow the SCIAC teams a small window to recover from injuries and make adjustments heading into the final leg of the year before postseason play.
Head coach Jenna Panatier was pleased with her team’s performance and is confident in their leadership to keep moving in the right direction.
“I’m feeling really good,” Panatier said.
“Our girls are working really hard on perfecting the little things, so that the big things don’t happen as often. We were able to get a lot of different rotations out on the floor tonight, and that experience is crucial for later in the season.”
Junior outside hitter Marisa Rojo contributed heavily in all sets and finished the match with four kills, two aces and six digs.
After sweeping three sets to finish the match with a La Verne win, Rojo had nothing but positive comments and high expectations for her team for the remainder of the season.
“We’re just playing really confidently,” Rojo said. “We’ve been on a roll these past three games and our chemistry, communication, and energy have been so good. So we’re just working on keeping it up the rest of this season.”
“Our last game against Cal Lutheran was a really good one and just showed what we have to prove, so when we go back and face them at their place, and go down to CMS, we’re expecting big things,” she said.
Sophomore libero Kristen Sanchez also saw heavy action through the first two sets and provided two aces and five digs for the Leopards.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how much more our team can improve, and I think we’re peaking just at the right time, so we need to keep the energy high and keep it rolling,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez added that the victory over Cal Lutheran last week was the springboard her team needed midway through the year.
“It was super exciting,” Sanchez said.
“It was a great confidence booster for us to prove to ourselves that we can play with anyone, and we just need to play at that level every game now.”
The team now looks ahead at the Leopard Invitational, where they will face University of California Santa Cruz, Lynchburg College of Virginia and Muhlenberg College of Pennsylvania.
The tournament will be held Friday and Saturday, before the Leopards return to SCIAC play at home 7 p.m. Tuesday, against the Whittier Poets.
Jacob Whannel can be reached at jacob.whannel@laverne.edu.