Mier and Soma Power Leos to Win

Photo by Shane Rodrigues

 

Story by Sebastián Abdón Ibarra

PASADENA, CA — The University of La Verne Leopards secured their first five-set win of the season Friday night against the Caltech Beavers  Ayana Mier and Noelani Soma have been the most reliable source of offense this season for La Verne and the two showed up and showed out in this game.

Set Scores: 26-24, 23-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-12

With the match tied at two sets apiece, Mier took over in the final set to drive the Leos to victory. Mier had five kills in the set to pace the Leopard offense. She collected two early kills to give La Verne a 4-1 lead and rose to the occasion late when the Leos needed her the most. Caltech stormed back from a 12-7 deficit to make it a two point game at 13-11, but Mier subbed into the game and put the nail in the coffin almost immediately with two kills to give the Leos a thrilling 15-12 win.

Mier led all scorers with 19 kills and had a kill percentage of .241 to go along with three digs and one block. Soma was right behind her with 18 kills, 13 digs, and three blocks. Ha'ani Untalan and Kari Esseff chipped in with 11 and 10 kills respectively. Emily Heldenbrand made all the right moves to set up her teammates with 40 assists. Heldenbrand also had three kills, 16 digs, and a block. Madison Smith led the Leos with 25 digs.

Alison Noyes and Isabell Yang were the leading scorers for the Beavers with 14 and 13 kills respectively. Megan Wang led all players with 29 digs coming off the bench.

The win brings La Verne to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the SCIAC. Caltech drops to 6-9 overall and 1-9 in conference play.

The Leopards are back at it again Saturday at 6:00 p.m. against the University of Redlands in the Sports Science Athletic Pavilion.