ORANGE, Calif. (Oct. 2, 2021) – Senior middle blocker Alison Noyes (Falmouth, Maine / Falmouth) was the bright spot as Caltech volleyball nearly took the first set at Chapman University on Friday night.

Noyes led an uncharacteristically erratic Beavers offense with a .350 hitting percentage that yielded nine kills, including three in four points as part of a 6-1 run that took Caltech ahead 20-16 in the first set. Chapman buckled down from there, however, to rattle off five unanswered points and traded evenly with the visitors. A huge block by senior Sydney Richardson (Granite Bay, Calif. / Roseville) and junior Dallas Taylor (Phoenix, Ariz. / Saguaro) – their second in four points – pulled Caltech within one of winning the set, but the Panthers again upped their game with their backs to the wall, striking three straight kills for the victory.

That defeat seemed to take the wind out of Caltech's sails a bit, though a mid-set rally in the second (again punctuated by Noyes) posed a brief threat before the hosts stretched back out for a 25-17 win. Once more, the Beavers pulled together for brief runs just before and after the midway point, but a slew of errors relegated Caltech to another set defeat, 25-19.

Sophomore Halle Blend (Farmers Branch, Texas / Hockaday) notched her seventh double-double of the year with an 11-dig performance, while senior Megan Wang (Henderson, Nev. / Advanced Tech. Acad.) kept up her recent strong form with 16 digs and Richardson smacked five kills.

 Head Coach Tom Gardner and the Beavers will host Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 3 p.m.