LOS ANGELES  — Everything was going well for the Occidental College women's volleyball team. They dominated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 25-12 in Game 2 and had set-point on the No. 21-ranked Athenas in Game 3 and Game 4.

But Oxy lost the lead and the momentum each time in a 3-1 loss to CMS at Rush Gymnasium on Friday.

Oxy falls to 9-5 overall and 3-3 in SCIAC. CMS improves to 12-3 and 4-3.

In Game 3, with a 24-20 lead, Oxy conceded five-straight points to go down 25-24. The lead changed hands two more times as Dana Michels and Stephanie Gann each had a pair of kills, before Nicole Kerkhof put away back-to-back points to end the set and deflate the chanting Oxy crowd.

Up until that spurt of five unanswered points, with the set nearly in the books, Oxy had all the momentum. The Tigers crushed CMS 25-12 in Game 2 after a sluggish loss in Game 1.

It took them awhile to recover, but Natalie Dwulet and Megan Olayinka helped Oxy erase a 13-6 CMS lead. Dwulet finished with seven block assists, Olayinka had six and the Tigers totaled 10 blocks as a team. Even when Dwulet and Olayinka's defense at the net didn't go down for points, it still gave Oxy a boost.

Oxy had a 24-21 lead in Game 4, but the Athenas prevailed on exhausting rallies, with Natalie Creekmur keeping several points alive with diving digs, ending the match with a 26-24 win in the set.

On the other side of the net, Oxy libero Madyson Cassidy had her typical All-SCIAC night with 39 digs.

Oxy passed and served well too. Jessie Altman had 41 assists and 14 digs, Kandace Korver had five aces and Hana Hunt had two.

Alyssa Mort led Oxy with 16 kills on .174 hitting. Kerkhof led the match with 19 on .245 hitting.

Oxy is back in action on Saturday at Redlands on Saturday at 6 p.m. CMS faces the Bulldogs in its next match on Oct. 8.

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