La Verne Tops Bulldogs On Senior Night
Senior Ashley Morgado posted 8 kills and 3.5 blocks in the Leopards' triumph over Redlands (Adam Kazub photo)
Senior Night provided a fitting conclusion for the University of La Verne, who topped the University of Redlands 3-1 in the regular season finale for both teams Tuesday night at Frantz Athletic Court.
Set scores were 25-19, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21
The senior quartet of Crista Jones, Ashley Morgado, Yesenia Lopez and Karli Fowlkes were honored prior to the contest. They along with their teammates would close Senior Night in triumphant fashion.
The Leopards controlled the first set by hitting .325 while limiting the Bulldogs to a .061 percentage. La Verne opened leads of 10-5 and 20-13 en route to taking the first stanza by a 25-19 margin.
Redlands rebounded in the second frame, taking advantage of several hitting and receiving errors by the Leopards. Trailing 10-5, the Leopards bounced back and remained even at 22-22 until the Bulldogs reeled off the final three points to secure the set and even the match at 1-1. The Leopards suffered their lowest hitting percentage of the match with a .171 clip.
La Verne pulled out a hotly contest third set, rallying from an early deficit to take the lead, then watching the Bulldogs tie the set on multiple occasions. The Leos would pull ahead 22-20 and eventually prevail 25-22.
In the fourth set, the Leos continued their momentum and took leads of 9-3 and 14-8 before the Dawgs crept back in to get within three points at 18-15. La Verne would grab a 23-19 advantage, but Redlands took the next two to trail 23-21. The Leos would end the match with kills from Kendall Kraiss and Jones to earn a 3-1 triumph.
Jones was the offensive catalyst by collecting a match-high 18 kills in the win, hitting .333 for the contest. La Verne also received 11 kills from Randi Toomay and 10 from Anna Calmer. Senior middle blocker Ashley Morgado tallied 8 kills and added 3.5 blocks in the win.
Jackie Hamilton posted 14 kills for the Bulldogs with Megan Phillips adding 13 kills in defeat.
The victory gave La Verne (20-12, 10-4 SCIAC) its 10th straight season of at least 20 wins. Moreover, the Leopards close the decade with a conference record of 132-8 in the 140 matches played.
Redlands fell to 20-5 overall and 12-2 in conference. The Bulldogs are the #1 seed in this weekend's inaugural SCIAC Tournament and will draw Pomona-Pitzer in semifinal action on Friday.
La Verne will be the #3 seed in the SCIAC Tournament and will meet #2 seed Cal Lutheran at 5 pm Friday at Currier Gymnasium in Redlands.
