Pacific Coast Classic: Bruins Sweep Whittier but Drop Thriller to CMS on Classic’s Day 2

File photo: George Fox Volleyball

CLAREMONT, Calif. - After sweeping the Whittier College Poets 3-0, the George Fox University Bruins pushed the host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Athenas down to the wire before dropping a 3-2 thriller on the final day of play in the Pacific Coast Classic women’s volleyball tournament here Saturday.

The Bruins rolled past the Poets 30-10, 30-21, 30-25 in a match played at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, then switched to nearby Claremont’s gym where they fell 30-24, 27-30, 30-27, 24-30, 15-11. George Fox was 2-2 in the tournament, having beaten Chapman University 3-1 before losing to Pomona-Pitzer 3-1 on Friday.

Jennifer Panico and Whitney Kolb with eight kills each and Elizabeth Anderson with seven paced the George Fox attack against Whittier, with Amy Knight passing out 21 assists and Lani Rasmussen nine. Kolb hit a sizzling .438 with only one error in 16 attempts. The Bruins made 56 digs, led by Knight with 11, and had 17 blocks, topped by eight from Anderson.

The Bruins had their best hitting percentage of the season with a .296 mark against Claremont but could not put the Athenas away after taking a 2-1 lead in games. Kolb with 16 kills and a .308 percentage and Anderson with 12 kills and a .455 mark paced the Bruins. Knight had 39 assists. Karina Philliber led the defense with 25 digs and Panico added 11, while Holly Hutchison was in on eight of the Bruins’ 10.5 blocks in the match.

Hilary Bagshaw with 16 kills, Lindsay Hull with 14, and Alicia Freeman with 11 sparked the Athenas, with Alex Harrison passing out 51 assists. Freeman had 17 digs, and Harrison and Helen Bottemiller made six blocks each on defense for the home team.

George Fox (3-5) now turns its attention to Northwest Conference action, which begins Wednesday as the Bruins visit Lewis & Clark College in Portland for a 7:00 PM match. The first home conference game for the Bruins is Friday, Sept. 15th, at 7:00 PM against pre-season NWC favorite University of Puget Sound.

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