CLU Sports

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Fourteen teams opened the two-day 2009 Cal-Lu-fornia Invitational Friday afternoon on the campus of California Lutheran University, matching many west region teams in non-conference action. The host Regals went 2-0 on the day with a four-set match win over Linfield (OR) College and a dramatic five-set victory against Whitworth (WA) University.

CLU who ranks No. 23 in the nation, moved to 3-4 overall. Head coach Kellee Roesel moved into third place for all-time wins (65) at CLU passing Dr. Carey Snyder (63).

Cal Lutheran 3, Linfield 1 - F
In the afternoon match up with Linfield, the Regals dropped the first set 25-20 while hitting .059 and losing freshman setter Nicole Tracy to injury. They bounced back with three straight sets 25-16, 25-23 and 25-20.

Freshman Jackie Russell and junior Cara Ihde picked up the setting duties with 28 and 20 assists respectively. Senior libero Jenna Meligan tallied a match-high 17 digs. Freshman outside hitter Rachel Smith was the match-leader with 12 kills.

Cal Lutheran 3, Whitworth 2 - F
After the Regals had their night match with Whitworth pushed back to an 8 p.m. start, they opened with a 25-10 win in the opening set and hit .435. Whitworth took sets two and three by scores of 27-25 and 25-19.

Fighting to stay alive the Regals came out hot again in the fourth set, building a large lead and forcing a fifth set with a 25-21 victory.

The fifth set was tied 13-13 when CLU got a block from junior Erin Exline and senior Cori Hayes. With match-point, the Regals took a free-ball opportunity and capitalized with a game-clinching kill on a slide set to Exline from Russell.

Junior Allison Kerr set a career-high with eight total blocks (three solo, five assists), to go along with 10 kills. Exline led all in the match with 13 kills and junior Megan Thorpe led with 13 digs. Russell dished out 32 assists.

Other Tournament Action
In a top-25 matchup, No. 16 Trinity (TX) College knocked off No. 6 University of La Verne in three sets and topped Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in four.

The north's George Fox (OR) University picked up a pair of five-set wins over Southern California teams Chapman University and University of Redlands.

UC Santa Cruz was the fourth two-win team on the day as they eased past Whitman (WA) College in three and edged Pacific (OR) University in five sets.

In another north-south matchup, Linfield (OR) came back from its earlier loss to CLU and defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in three sets. CMS had beaten Whitworth (WA) in its earlier match in four sets.

Pacific (OR) picked up an impressive win over La Verne in five sets before falling to UC Santa Cruz.

Dominican (IL) University opened its day with a four-set win over Pomona-Pitzer and finished with a four-set loss to Chapman.

Day Two Schedule
Day two action of the Cal-Lu-fornia tournament will open at 10:30 a.m. with three matches, while Cal Lutheran will begin play at 1 p.m. when they face Pacific (OR). The Regals will finish the tournament against Chapman at 5 p.m.

Live video feeds will be shown during four matches throughout the day Saturday and may be viewed at www.KadyTV.com. The website will air the Whitman-Dominican match at 10:30 a.m., Pacific-CLU, 1 p.m., George Fox-Dominican, 3 p.m. and Chapman-CLU, 5 p.m.

For score updates and all other tournament news visit the 2009 Cal-Lu-fornia Invitational site.