ORANGE, Calif. – The regular season came to a close on Saturday night with the Chapman University volleyball team treading in unfamiliar waters. The Panthers lost in five sets to visiting Occidental College (25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 14-25, 15-8) for their season-high third consecutive loss – their first such losing streak since 2010. Chapman also suffered back-to-back home losses for the first time in over three years.

Chapman (17-11 overall, 10-6 SCIAC) fell into a tie with Occidental (17-10, 10-6 SCIAC) for fourth place in the SCIAC, but earns the final conference playoff spot outright due to Oxy's self-imposed sanctions making the Tigers postseason ineligible.

Occidental's Stephanie Gann paced the Tigers with a match-high 24 kills and seven total blocks (four solo, three assists). Four Tigers in all tallied double digits in kills, including Dana Michels and Alyssa Mort who earned 14 apiece. Setter Jessie Altman recorded 55 assists for Oxy.

Chapman was led by sophomore OH Michele Hammer who finished with 15 kills and 15 digs. Junior MB Val Geiger added 14 kills.

Senior S Corrine Ostrovsky – the Panthers' all-time leader in assists – totaled 47 in the match, giving her 4,080 for her career. She and four other seniors: Lauren Schour, Carleigh Mueller, McKenna Roice and Lena Buckendorf were honored prior to the final home match of their careers.

As the No. 4 seed for the SCIAC postseason tournament, the Panthers will face top-seeded and No. 3 nationally-ranked Cal Lutheran University on Thursday in the first round. The tournament will be hosted by Cal Lutheran.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://chapmanathletics.com/sports/wvball/2013-14/boxscores/20131102_1pcn.xml

Become a fan of Chapman Athletics on Facebook
Follow Chapman Athletics on Twitter @ChapmanSports
Post your #PantherPic to Instagram @ChapmanSports
#CUPanthers