Box Score

ORANGE, Calif. — Coming off an emotional senior night victory on Saturday, the Chapman University volleyball team (11-9, 6-5 SCIAC) was on a roller coaster of emotions with a 25-19, 28-26, 19-25, 24-26, 15-13 win over the La Verne Leopards (12-8, 7-4 SCIAC).

La Verne entered the matchup on a roll with five-straight wins against SCIAC programs and its starting libero Morgan Watkins was honored with the SCIAC Volleyball Defensive Athlete of the Week.

Despite the challenging opponent, Chapman prevailed by winning the fifth set 15-13. La Verne has a 13-11 lead, but Chapman scored four consecutive points to close out the game

It is fitting three of the four final points came from freshman middle blocker Sasha Pugh and senior setter Sammy Chambers. Chambers had 8 kills, but her best production was her team-leading 44 assists and 21 digs, which are both career highs in her illustrious Chapman career. Pugh led the team with 25 kills and 30 points, which are both career highs. The freshman's five kills in the final set led the charge for the comeback.

Chapman was off to a great start by winning the first two sets: 25-19 and 28-26, respectively. The second set was especially exhilarating as the Panthers clawed their way back with a 9-3 run to come back and win the set.

La Verne responded by winning two sets of its own: 25-19 and 26-24, respectively. Chapman scored eight consecutive points in the fourth set to turn a 19-15 deficit to a 23-19 lead, but it was not enough as La Verne closed out the set on a 7-1 run to force a fifth set.

With the win, Chapman remains one game behind Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for fourth place in the SCIAC standings, which would gain home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Chapman travels down to San Diego County in a non-conference matchup against Cal State San Marcos on Thursday, Oct. 29.