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Occidental Needs Five Sets to Upset Cal Lutheran and Win SCIAC Postseason Tournament Championship
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – It's not easy to beat the defending champions twice in one season and it's even harder when the second match is in their place, with a packed house of people that want you to lose.
But that's exactly what the Occidental College women's volleyball team did on Saturday night, beating No. 15 Cal Lutheran University 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 16-25, 15-8 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship at Gilbert Arena. With the win, the Tigers (21-8) earn the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
Kasey Rose (Los Olivos, CA) had 19 kills, Katie Weise (Denver, CO) had 16 and Logan Boyer-Hayse had 15, leading the Tigers to their first SCIAC tournament championship in the game's fourth year.
Oxy continued their hot play, winning the first two sets to extend their streak to eight in-a-row, then lost a pair, sending the game to a fifth game.
Rose had five kills to get Oxy off to a fast start and they never looked back, handing the Regals their first home loss since Sept 21 and winning the rubber-match between two schools that split their two meetings in the regular season – Cal Lu beat Oxy on Sept. 20 and the Tigers won the most recent matchup on Oct. 21.
Oxy is also the first SCIAC school to beat Cal Lutheran since the University of La Verne did it in 2007.
Jessie Altman (La Jolla, CA) led Oxy with 50 assists and Madyson Cassidy (Arcadia, CA) had 25 digs.
