Cal Lutheran women's volleyball snapped a 14-match losing streak against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Thursday, Sept. 24, winning 3-2 in five sets at Gilbert Arena in Thousand Oaks.

The victory, the Regals' first over the Athenas since 2018, opened SCIAC conference play and improved Cal Lutheran to 5-6 overall and 1-0 in league. Cal Lutheran's athletics department called it "one of the biggest wins in recent program history." CMS fell to 4-6 and 0-1.

It was also the Regals' first five-set win since the 2024 preseason.

Senior middle blocker Tarin Rueckert and Aby Tibesar powered the attack. Rueckert hit .600 with 12 kills. Tibesar posted 12 kills on 17 attacks at a .647 clip. The pair combined for 24 kills with just one error.

Rueckert entered the match fresh off SCIAC Offensive Athlete of the Week honors, awarded Monday, Sept. 21, after she totaled 25 kills, a .380 hitting percentage, 12 block assists and four solo blocks across three matches at the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational, according to Cal Lutheran athletics.

Emily Ford and Kennedy Smith each added 10 kills. Cienna Alvarez chipped in 10 kills and a team-high four aces.

Senior libero Keegan Corley anchored the defense with a match-high 31 digs. The Regals totaled 86 digs as a team. Makenna Kawamura added 11 digs and 24 assists, while Kimmy Wilson contributed 20 assists and nine digs. Cal Lutheran finished with 10 aces to four for CMS.

CMS jumped ahead 11-6 in the first set before Cal Lutheran rallied to even the score at 13 and closed the set behind three aces from Kawamura. The Regals dominated the third set with an 11-0 opening run, Smith collecting four kills and Alvarez adding three aces during the burst.

CMS fought back to take the second and fourth sets, then tied the fifth at 10-10, according to the CMS athletics recap. Cal Lutheran answered with a 5-1 closing run to win 15-11.

The fifth-set comeback echoed a goal associate head coach Alec Bennett had set days earlier. After the Regals were reverse-swept by Schreiner at the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational, Bennett told The Echo on Tuesday, Sept. 22: "We'll try to stay calm in those later stages of the game and kind of expect things to not go our way and just be ready to fight."

Cal Lutheran travels to Caltech on Sunday, Sept. 27, with first serve set for 4 p.m. in Pasadena.