Caltech Volleyball Defeats SCIAC Rival Occidental College – Pasadena Now
The Caltech volleyball team came away with a dominant victory over Occidental College, besting the Tigers in four close sets Saturday afternoon at Rush Gymnasium.
The Beavers put together an impressive team performance with many outstanding individual contributions. Sophomore Alize Bakker (Portland, Ore. / Westview) and first-year Brittany Rosario (San Juan, P.R. / San Juan Math, Science and Tech Center) played big roles in the Beavers' win with 12 kills each. Bakker added a pair of service aces and 12 digs in the winning effort.
After falling behind 9-6 to Oxy in the first set, Caltech caught fire with a 6-1 run to take the lead. Bakker had two kills and first-year Stephanie Wallen made one and the run forced Oxy to burn a timeout. After the two teams tied the first set at 25, Wallen came through in the clutch with a block to take a 26-25 lead, then Caltech won the set on the next point.
After dropping the second set, the Beavers bounced back with a good start in the third. Right away Caltech went on a 4-1 run with a kill each from Andrea Li (Calgary, Alb. / Sir Winston Churchill), Rosario, Alisa Shen (Calgary, Alb. / Western Canada HS) and finally Bakker.
Caltech played a clean third set with no ball handling errors to the Tigers' two and had a better attack with 49 attack attempts to the Tigers' 43 and 16 kills to the Tigers' 13. Rosario came through with a huge kill to tie the set at 24 and deny Oxy a set point, and Bakker sealed the deal two rallies later with a kill to win the set for the Beavers 26-24.
With momentum on Caltech's side, they opened the fourth set with a 4-1 run, with kills coming from sophomore Celine Wu (Potomoc, Md. / Montgomery Blair) and Shen. Later in the set as Oxy tied the score at 14, Caltech once again took over with a 4-0 run. Bakker picked up another kill off an assist by junior setter Giulia Murgia (Iglesias, Italy / Istituto di Istruzione Superiore G. Asproni), who led the match in assists with 22. After more back-and-forth with Oxy leveling and Caltech surging back ahead, Wilkinson scored the final point with a major kill to close out the set and win the match.
"I am really proud of the resolve that our team showed in earning our first conference win of the season," Head Coach Tom Gardner said. "The team really came together when it was most crucial. Every player in uniform contributed to the win and it is proof that their hard work is paying off."
The squad will look to win back-to-back matches as they take on Whittier College at Braun Gymnasium on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 6 p.m.
