Los Angeles, CA – The Occidental women's volleyball team hosted the Caltech Beavers for a riveting five-set match on Saturday night that ended in Oxy's favor, 3-2. The first conference win for the team posted set scores of 26-24, 21-25, 19-25, 25-23, and 15-13.
To further top off the big win, three Tigers earned double-doubles: Ariana Carranza (14 kills, 21 digs), Lizzy Kerman (10 kills, 14 digs), and Skye Garcia (11 kills, 13 digs). For the season, that marks Carranza's sixth, Kerman's third, and Garcia's second time to hit the stat milestone. In addition to the three double-doubles, Oxy had a total of five Tigers hit double digit points with the other two athletes being Aniya Hawthorne and Eliana Channell.
The first set was close with neither team getting more than two points ahead. Caltech was pushed to call their first timeout of the set with Oxy ahead 17-15 which turned into Oxy using their first timeout after the Beavers closed the gap at 20-19. After crossing into the twenties, the score came to a tie four times as each team was vying to earn the first set win, but the Tigers were victorious, 26-24.
In the second set, Caltech showed up ready to fight and took an early lead. Oxy fought their way from behind and drew a Caltech timeout at 14-13. The score continued to stay tight throughout the rest of the set with long rallies, but the Beavers evened the match to 1-1 with a set score of 25-21.
The third set had Oxy fall the farthest behind up to that point in the match with a six point deficit. Having changed the rotation assignments multiple times, the Tigers did run into some confusion with their substitutions, leading to a delay midway through the set. It took a few points for the Tigers to get back into the game, but they had too much ground to cover and were unable to stop the Beavers from claiming set three, 25-19.
In the fourth set, knowing that they needed a win to stay alive, Oxy pulled ahead four points to draw an early timeout from Caltech. The Beavers regrouped to bring the score down to just one point before the Tigers pulled ahead five points with Katelyn Cajigas serving. Things got spirited on both sides of the net and in the stands when the score came to a tie at 21 all. The teams went point-for-point in the twenties, bringing the score to a tie three times. Remarkably from behind, Oxy earned themselves the fourth set with a score of 25-23.
In the fifth set, Caltech went on a five point scoring streak. It was looking a little precarious for Oxy when they took their time out with the score at 9-5 in Caltech's favor. The set shifted into Oxy's advantage with an amazing ace delivered by Carranza and a well executed quick kill by Hawethorne that tapped the net to drop short. Everyone was on the edge of their seats when the Beavers earned the next three points to tie the set. The Tigers developed their match takeover when Camille Thé set up Garcia for a kill that dropped short on the far side of the Beaver's court. With the match point on the line, Leena Albelo executed a beautiful ace that left the Beavers unable to return.
Oxy competes next at Chapman on Tuesday, October 10 for a 7 p.m. match.
