PASADENA, Calif. (Sept. 23, 2022) - The women's volleyball program began their SCIAC schedule with a 1-3 defeat at the hands of the Sagehens from Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Friday night in front of a raucous crowd in Braun Gym.  With several of the Beavers playing their first home match of their collegiate careers, the highly competitive matchup against the pre-season ranked number two team in the conference portends a positive note for Caltech's season. 
 
Head Coach Tom Gardner's new look lineup featured three freshmen as OH Sophia Parker (Palmdale, Calif. / William J. Pete Knight), OH/OPP Olivia Xu (Markham, Ontario, Canada / St. Robert Catholic), and MB Alexis Herfurth (Sonora, Calif. / Sonora) all made their Caltech home debuts.  They were flanked by returning All-SCIAC first team setter, junior Halle Blend (Farmers Branch, Texas / Hockaday), senior MB Dallas Taylor (Phoenix, Ariz. / Saguaro), junior OPP Madeline Shao (San Jose, Calif. Lynbrook) and junior libero Angel Wang (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Pine Creek).  
 
While Caltech found itself trailing in set one 4-9, they worked back into the set and tied the match at 10-10 on a Herfurth service run. The teams traded points through the middle part of the set, only to see the Sagehens gain a little daylight as they were the first to 20, leading 20-17.  A service ace by Xu got the Beavers within a point at 19-20, but Caltech would get no closer, as Pomona-Pitzer took the first set, 21-25. 
 
Freshmen Giulia Murgia (Iglesias, Italy / Istituto di Istruzione Superiore G. Asproni) spelled Shao at the start of set two, and the Beavers found themselves down early 1-5.  Behind great work from Parker from the service line, Caltech leveled the set and 5 and then again were level at 9 on a kill by freshman OH Marissa Till (Woodinville, Wash. / Woodinville).  While the visitors took the lead in the middle portion of the set, it was the Beavers, behind the support of the student body, that took the lead on another Till kill at 18-17, and were able to close out the set at 25-19, knotting the match at one set a piece.
 
In set three, the two teams stayed within four points of each other through the middle section of the set.  A challenging rotation for the Beavers and solid serving by the Sagehens led to the visitors closing out the third at 14-25, pushing the match score to 1-2 in favor of the Sagehens.
 
Gardner inserted several returning players on the court in the fourth set, as junior OH/OPP Claire Perhach (Carlsbad, Calif. / Sage Creek) and junior MB Gabriella Twombly (Weston, Fla. / Archbishop McCarthy) made an impact, keeping the match close as the teams traded points through 12-13 on a Twombly kill, with the Beavers getting within 18-21 on a kill Taylor.  That was as close as the Beavers would get as the Sagehens held on for the fourth set win, 21-25 and the four-set victory, with the Beavers falling 21-25, 25-19, 14-25 and 21-25.  The Beavers did win the battle from the sevice line, serving up 8 aces, while only committing 2 errors on the evening,  Led by Wang's fine libero play as she provided 22 digs on the evening, Caltech also benefitted from Blend's 30 assists and Parker's 13 kills.  With the loss, the Beavers fall to (3-3-0 , 0-1-0 SCIAC) on the year.
 
Caltech won't have to wait long to try to capture their first conference win of the season as they travel to Whittier College to take on the Poets at 6:00 pm on Saturday evening, September 24.  If attending the match isn't an option, we hope that you will follow the live stream, or follow the live stats that will be available at www.GoCaltech.com.