Photo: Noelle Davis

PASADENA (Oct. 22, 2019) – Led by a strong showing from outside hitters Lauren Li (Bellaire, Texas / Bellaire) and Sydney Richardson (Granite Bay, Calif. / Roseville), the Caltech volleyball team took a set off SCIAC co-leader Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges for the first time ever on Tuesday evening.

The Beavers traded blows with the visiting Athenas for the majority of the first set all the way up until the final moments when they ultimately pulled away. With both teams knotted at 22 points apiece, Caltech railed off three consecutive points capped off by an assisted block from junior Krystyna Maruszko (Redondo Beach, Calif. / Marymount) and sophomore Alison Noyes (Falmouth, Maine / Falmouth). Li and Richardson, meanwhile, combined for nine of the home team's 15 first-set kills and finished the match with 16 and 10 kills apiece.

The experience of the Athenas began to show itself in the later sets with the visiting team posting dominant ratios in the second and third frames. The Beavers, however thrived once again with their backs against the wall. after CMS took a 24-15 lead, Caltech turned back seven match points, six of which came on the serve of sophomore libero Megan Wang (Henderson, Nev. / Advanced Technologies Academy). Over that stretch, reigning SCIAC Specialist of the Week Maruszko posted two of her 33 assists. The junior also tied with Wang for the team lead in digs with 13. Noyes, meanwhile finished the match with a highly efficient .389 percentage, notching kills on eight out of 18 total attacks. 

Head Coach Tom Gardner and the Beavers will go back on the road this Friday, Oct. 25 to face off with the University of La Verne.

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