REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Volleyball team (8-6, 4-3 SCIAC) battled No. 11 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) on Saturday inside Currier Gym forcing a fourth set, but the Athenas would come away with the road win prevailing 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 25-11).  

The Bulldogs came ready to play as Esha Ball (Fresno, CA) and Avery Aminoff (Alexandria, VA) had early kills to put the U of R ahead 3-1. After the fast start the Athenas responded taking a 7-3 lead before the Bulldogs evened out and made it a two-point game, 9-7.

Trailing by eight with CMS only 10 points away from taking set one, Redlands put together another run, this time it was eight of the next ten points that included kills from Elizabeth Moyer (Surprise, AZ), Makaila Brooks (Las Vegas, NV), and Makenna Van Hofwegen (Buckeye, AZ).

Another late charge fell short as Redlands dropped the first set, 25-21.

The Bulldogs came out of the intermission seeing the Athenas jump out in front quickly.  But a quick 4-0 run put the Maroon and Grey ahead 11-10 as Aminoff and Kaegan Wherry (Englewood, CO) had kills along with the Athenas gifting two points on hitting errors.

Redlands held a lead as late as 17-16, but CMS would win nine of the final 12 points to take a 2-0 advantage.

It looked like a sweep was eminent in the third stanza as the Athenas led 4-1, 13-9, 15-10, 17-11, and 20-12, but Wherry started a big run for the Maroon and Grey with a kill off a Lyric Waterman (Aurora, CO) assist.

That run would spark a 14-4 stretch as Redlands came back to win the set 26-24. The Bulldogs had to save two match points, which they did thanks to kills from Kate Putzier (Overland Park, KS) and Wherry as well as blocks from Ball and Wherry to finish off the set forcing a fourth.  

After a fantastic finish to the third, the fourth set was tied at four early, but CMS, however, took the 5-4 lead and they never relinquished it as they would take the match, 25-11.

Van Hofwegen and Waterman each finished with 17 assists.  Wherry was the lone player in double figures in kills with 12. Lali Makaiwi (Las Vegas, NV) had 23 digs and five assists and Moyer added five kills and 16 digs.

Redlands' will now faceoff with Pomona-Pitzer on Tuesday, October 15 beginning at 7:00pm.  The Sagehens are currently in 3rd Place within the conference standings and sit at 5-1 in SCIAC.