CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball team was pushed to five sets by Cal Lutheran, but closed out the match with five points in a row for a 15-9 fifth set win and a 3-2 victory on Friday evening in the SCIAC opener for both teams. 

Set scores were 25-20, 23-25, 25-16, 21-25, 15-9. With the win, CMS now stands at 7-3 on the season, while Cal Lutheran slips to 7-2 with the defeat. 

The Regals took the fourth set 25-21 to bring it to a fifth and were up 5-4 in the final set before CMS went on the first of its two 5-0 runs in the final set to go ahead 9-5. Ari Clarkson and Solvej Eversoll each had a kill during the run, and then combined on a block to make the score 9-5. 

Cal Lutheran got back in it, though, with a 3-0 run to close it to 10-9, before CMS went on its second 5-0 run to finish it. Brooke McKee had a kill to start the run, which was followed by an ace from Samantha Riter. McKee then finished off a dramatic point which saw CMS send three straight Cal Lutheran attacks backwards with blocks at the net before the Athenas dug out the fourth attack and McKee finished it off with a hard crosscourt kill for a 13-9 lead.

Phoebe Shorney went crosscourt for another kill to bring the Athenas to match point, and McKee and Stella Gajar combined on the final block at the net to end it. 

McKee led CMS with 14 kills, four of which came in the fifth set, and added 12 digs, while Shorney had 11 kills (hitting .429) and Eversoll added 10 (hitting .320). Mia Urosevic had 25 digs to lead the defensive effort, while Hayden Lin (26) and Riter (25) had 51 assists. 

CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it travels to Caltech for a 2 p.m. contest.