CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Caltech women's volleyball team continued its SCIAC campaign on the road against the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas, who are ranked 19th in the latest NCAA Division III national poll.

Unfazed by the home team's previous performances, the Beavers earned a sideout on the second rally of the match and quickly racked up a 9-3 lead. As CMS fought back for a 12-12 tie, Caltech pulled ahead again, maintaining a lead at 20-18 before the hosts heated up just in time to claim Set 1 by a 25-22 score. Still, Caltech out-hit the Athenas .212 to .100 in the opening frame, making critical digs to extend the rallies and committing half as many attack errors as CMS.

CMS regrouped and rolled through Set 2, but Caltech made a fight of it in set 3, briefly pulling ahead on a four-point run to make it 7-6 before the hosts would run away with the match victory.

Sophomore Stephanie Wallen (Miami, Fla. / Ransom Everglades) led the team in hitting percentage at .250, recording six kills on 16 attacks with just two errors, also contributing an assist and a solo block. Classmate Ailsa Shen (Calgary, Alberta / Western Canada) led Caltech both in digs with seven and assists with 17. First-year Rena Zhang (Peoria, Ill. / Dunlap) led the Beavers in total kills with eight, also picking up six digs. 

Junior Alize Bakker (Portland, Ore. / Westview) led the Beavers in serving with a trio of aces, and she inched two kills closer to the program record for kills in a single season.

Head Coach Tom Gardner and the Beavers will be back at it on their home court at Braun Gymnasium Saturday at 4 p.m. to host the California Lutheran University Regals. Follow the team on Instagram.