La Verne Takes Down Birmingham Southern, #22 Haverford
Chelsea Sleight combined for 46 digs in the Leopards' two wins on Saturday (Adam Kazub photo)
The University of La Verne volleyball squad extended its win streak to a season-high five straight matches with a pair of wins at the CLU Fall Classic in Thousand Oaks by recording 3-1 victories over Haverford and Birmingham Southern on Saturday.
La Verne topped Birmingham Southern 22-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-15 before defeating Haverford 22-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-11.
The Leopards hit .279 against Birmingham Southern while compiling 8 total blocks and 7 service aces. Crista Jones hit .382 for the match while tallying a match-high 18 kills in addition to registering 14 digs. Anna Calmer also notched a double-double with 11 kills and 15 digs with Randi Toomay contributing 9 kills. Catie Logan hit .750 for the match with 6 kills. Libero Chelsea Sleight had a team-high 22 digs.
Against Haverford, the Leos hit .221 for the match in addition to recording 11 blocks and 93 digs in the four-set triumph. The trio of Jones (13), Calmer (10) and Toomay (10) combined for 33 kills. All three enjoyed double-doubles with Calmer adding 17 digs while Jones and Toomay collected 15 and 13 digs, respectively. Sleight finished with 24 digs.
The win over Haverford - ranked #22 in the latest AVCA Division III Coaches Poll - was La Verne's second victory over a nationally-ranked opponent in as many weeks.
La Verne (16-11, 6-3 SCIAC) returns to conference action this week beginning with a road contest at Caltech Tuesday night in Pasadena. Start time is 7:30 pm.
