LOS ANGELES — Oxy libero Madyson Cassidy continued her hot streak defensively and the Occidental women's volleyball team dominated three of four sets, cruising to a comfortable victory over a good UC Santa Cruz team at Rush Gymnasium on Saturday, 25-22, 11-25, 25-16, 25-16.

Less than 24 hours after a tough conference loss to Pomona-Pitzer that dropped them to fifth in the SCIAC standings, Oxy's non-conference win over the 19-5 Banana Slugs could serve as the spark it needs to catch Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Chapman.

"This win was really good for our momentum and I think we are going to be able to finish the rest conference strong and end on a good note," said Cassidy, who finished with 41 digs. "I think our team really picked up our energy and our talk and that made a huge difference."

The Tigers entered Saturday just 1 1/2 games out of second place and Oxy still gets to play two of the four teams ahead of them.

Oxy returns to SCIAC play at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m., hosts Redlands on Nov. 1 and then finishes the year at Chapman on Nov. 2.

The Tigers lost their first conference match against UC Santa Cruz two weeks ago in five sets, but they made sure to even the score this time around.

Oxy played nearly mistake-free volleyball in Game 1, with just one hitting error. With the score tied at 22, freshman middle Natalie Dwulet finished a quick set from Jessie Altman and teamed up with Dana Michels and Megan Olayinka for the final three points.

Altman, who totaled 42 assists, was spreading the ball around and Oxy was rolling, hitting .340 as a team.

But somehow the wheels fell off for a brief stretch during Game 2 as the Tigers committed four hitting errors, four reception errors and three ball handling errors, allowing UC Santa Cruz to even the match at one game each.

Oxy put the poor set behind them quickly in Game 3, jumping out to a 21-11 lead on an ace by Cassidy. Michels finished two of Oxy's last three points and the Tigers regained the enthusiasm they played with in Game 1.

It carried over into Game 4. Stephanie Gann caught fire, serving three aces during an 8-0 run to start the set. Later, she iced the game and the match with six of her game-high 13 kills.

Michels finished with 12 kills and Alyssa Mort added 10.

The Tigers hit .244 on the match.

Amber Glaab and Morgan Ehritt finished with 10 kills each to lead UC Santa Cruz.

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