CLU Sports

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - With both days complete of the 2009 Cal-Lu-fornia Invitational, the Cal Lutheran volleyball team walked away with four wins and improved its record to 5-4 on the year. Out of 14 teams, CLU and George Fox (OR) University were the only two with four-win weekends.

No. 16 Trinity (TX) College and UC Santa Cruz had the next best showings with 3-1 records over the two-days.

Cal Lutheran 3, Pacific (OR) 0 - F
CLU opened play on day two against Pacific (OR) University and hit .266 for the match en route to a three-set sweep of the Boxers. The Regals overcame an early deficit in the first set and won 25-22. They followed with a 25-23 win in set two and 27-25 match-clinching win in the third.

Junior middle Allison Kerr posted match-highs with a .545 hitting percentage and 13 kills. Freshman outside Rachel Smith tallied 10 kills and hit .444 for the match. Freshman setter Jackie Russell had a match-high 34 assists while juniors Erin Exline and Megan Thorpe added three aces and ten digs respectively.

CLU held the Boxers to a .196 kill percentage on 97 attempts.

Cal Lutheran 3, Chapman 1 - F
In the Regals evening match they split the first two sets with Chapman University and answered with 25-18, 25-19 wins in the third and fourth sets respectively.

Exline and Thorpe each had 15 kills and hit .268 and .262 respectively. Russell added a career-best 48 assists and 18 digs. Smith picked up 20 digs to go along with 10 kills.

In the third set, CLU posted a .476 hitting percentage with 21 kills on 42 attempts and one error. Chapman was limited to a .071 hitting percentage on 170 attempts.

Other Tournament Action
In the morning matches, the University of Redlands five-set match with No. 16 Trinity (TX) was the highlight. The Bulldogs knocked off Trinity after winning the first two sets, dropping the third and fourth, and taking the decisive fifth-set 15-9. Redlands followed that with a 3-0 match win over Linfield (OR) College to complete a two-win day.

During the second time slot of matches it was No. 6 University of La Verne claiming its first win of the tournament with a five set win over UC Santa Cruz. The Leopards won the first two sets, were forced to a fifth set by the Banana Slugs and held on to a 15-12 win in the fifth set.

At the same time Whitman (WA) College and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges played to a fifth set with Whitman taking the match after a 15-7 victory in set five.

The late-afternoon games featured two five set matches as Trinity topped Whitworth (WA) University and Pomona-Pitzer Colleges edged Pacific.

UC Santa Cruz and Linfield (OR) College kicked off the evening matches with a five-set contest that finished with a 15-6 victory for UCSC, who finished the weekend with three wins.

George Fox defeated Pomona-Pitzer 3-1 and was the only other team besides CLU to win all four of its matches on the weekend.

For complete results from the tournament including individual set scores visit the 2009 Cal-Lu-fornia Invitational website.