ORANGE — The Occidental College volleyball team truly got the chance to play like there was no tomorrow on Saturday night against Chapman at Hutton Center because, quite frankly, there wasn't.

The Tigers entered the evening in fifth place in the SCIAC standings and weren't eligible for the playoffs even if they beat the Panthers to capture the No. 4 seed in their regular season finale.

But Oxy (17-10, 10-6 SCIAC) did just that, spoiling Chapman's Senior Night and beating the Panthers 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 14-25, 15-8) for the second time this season to record double-digit conference wins.

Stephanie Gann picked up right where she left off from the previous evening in her final home game as a Tiger. The senior middle hitter came into the contest needing just two kills to surpass the 300-mark on the season. She needed just five points into the first set to reach that milestone and went on to tally both a match-high 24 kills on .294 hitting. She also added seven blocks, boosting her squad over the Panthers.

Had Oxy been eligible for the SCIAC playoffs, they would have earned the No. 4 seed because they own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Panthers.

"I am so proud of how the whole team played," Gann said. "We were all playing as one unit the entire match, and I could not have imagined a more perfect way to end my career here. I love all the girls on the team and I am so proud of all of us."

Occidental's four other seniors contributed to the cause as well.

Fellow hitter Alyssa Mort was consistent all evening, recording 14 kills on .281 hitting to give her exactly 300 kills on the season, setter Jessie Altman racked up 55 assists, libero Madyson Cassidy — who finishes her career in the top-five nationally in digs per set — posted 30 digs and Hana Hunt came off the bench to register six service aces and 13 digs.

Cassidy ends the year in the conference lead in digs per set (6.4), Altman finishes third in assists per set (10.13) and Hunt takes second in service aces per set (0.44).

"This team has proven that heart prevails," Occidental head coach Heather Collins said. "They have come together in the last half of this season and played some of the best volleyball I have seen from them. We dominated the fifth game with tough serving from Mady [Cassidy], Hana [Hunt] and Dana [Michels] to push them off the net and force them to commit hitting errors, giving us the advantage. Overall, pure determination by the seniors and the rest of the team captured the fifth game. I am so proud of this group."

The match hung in the balance all night long, as both teams received much of their momentum off of a constant pendulum swing. Oxy overcame its 28 errors to Chapman's 19 as well as the fact that the Panthers had four hitters reach double-figure kills.

Junior middle blocker Val Geiger — who completes the campaign as the SCIAC leader in kills (485) and hitting percentage (.371) — did not start for Chapman, and the squads found themselves tied at 18 in set one before the Panthers captured five out of the next six points to take a 23-19 lead. Sophomore outside hitter Michele Hammer led the way for Chapman with five kills on .417 hitting in the opening frame and recorded 15 kills on the night to go along with 15 digs.

But Oxy rallied to tie the game at 23 apiece on a Dana Michels kill, forced set point on a Hunt service ace and took the segment 25-23 on a Gann put-away. Four Tigers — Gann, Michels, Mort and freshman middle Natalie Dwulet — had at least three kills in the set as the black and orange out-hit Chapman by over 100 points.

The Tigers came out roaring in the second set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead after two of Hunt's aces. Occidental soon found itself up by its largest lead of the night at 18-10 before Kat Marusich and Halle Erdahl got swinging for the Panthers.

The two combined for 11 kills in the game two, and the Tigers watched their lead dissolve to just a one-point advantage at 21-20 before Marusich and Erdahl teamed up for four consecutive kills and a Michels attack error ended the set in favor of Chapman, 25-21. Marusich and Erdahl finished the night with 13 (.522) and 12 (.235) kills, respectively.

Geiger, who had just two kills in game two, came alive in the third segment, tying Gann with a set-high eight kills. Geiger finished the night with 14 kills on .375 hitting and three blocks.

After three straight Gann hits put the Tigers up 3-1, Marusich registered four kills over the course of six points and Geiger knotted the game at seven with a kill, at 10 with back-to-back kills and gave the Panthers their first lead of the set at 12-11 after Gann evened the score at 11 apiece.

The teams exchanged blows, with Geiger again coming through for the Panthers to put her team up 22-19 for their largest lead of the set before Gann tied it again at 22. A Hammer attack error then gave Oxy a 23-22 lead and, in spite of one more Gieger kill, the Tigers held on to win set three, 25-23.

Set four was a bit of a disaster for the black and orange, as a whopping 11 errors put the Tigers on the wrong end of a 25-14 set deficit. Geiger, Hammer and Erdahl knocked down three kills apiece, while Marusich had two in the set.

But it was Occidental who gritted it out in the decisive fifth set, getting up by as much as eight points at 10-2 and capturing the frame 15-8.

The final segment represented the changing of the guard from the five Tiger seniors to next year's new regime that will likely be headed by Michels and Dwulet — both of whom fittingly smashed home three kills in the match's concluding set, signaling the passing of the torch.

"When we got the last point and all the seniors contributed enormously to the game, the fact that we will never play again set in and it was the most happy-sad feeling," Michels said.

Though both still underclassmen, she and Dwulet each came into her own this season.

Michels posted 14 kills and 12 digs in Saturday's contest, giving her 336 kills on the season, just one shy of perennial All-American Logan Boyer-Hayse's mark of 337 from a year ago. She made the move from the middle back to her old high school position on the outside and went from fifth on the team with 112 kills in 2012 to exactly triple that amount for the team-lead this season. She surpassed her old mark just 13 games into the campaign and also posted a career-high 27 kills in a 3-2 victory over Pomona-Pitzer back on Sept. 28.

As for Dwulet — who uncannily recorded match point for the second time this season to close out Chapman — the next three years seem incredibly bright. She started all 27 matches for Oxy as a just a freshman, taking on Michels' former role in the middle. The 6-footer led the team with an incredible 84 blocks (0.81 per set), shattering last year's mark of 57 set by Aly Fritz. She also finishes fourth on the squad in kills with 158, next behind the cluster of three players at 300.

"We played amazing," she said. "[I'm] so happy to end on a high note. I love the seniors so much, and I'm so sad that the season is over and they are leaving us."

But looking into the future, she is ready to take on any role that Collins throws her way.

"I'm not sure," Dwulet said when asked if she sees herself following in Michels' footsteps and moving back outside next year. "I've played multiple positions, so we'll see what coach wants me to do."