WALLA WALLA, Wash. – After splitting two matches to begin their season, the University of Redlands Women's Volleyball team (1-2) fell 3-1 to Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) Saturday morning.
It was a fantastic 4-0 start for the Maroon and Grey with Makaila Brooks (Las Vegas, NV) and Kaegan Wherry (Englewood, CO) finishing off points with kills on assists from Esha Ball (Fresno, CA) and Makenna Van Hofwegen (Buckeye, AZ).
The Lutes would then settle in and score eight of the next 12 as the set was tied at eight. Emma Murphy (South Jordan, UT) and then Lali Makaiwi (Las Vegas, NV) combined for two-in-a-row to take a three-point lead, 13-10.
Late in the period it was tied once again, this time at 18, when Avery Aminoff (Alexandria, CA) and Wherry pulled the Bulldogs within five points of an opening set win.
PLU, however, finished the set off by winning seven of the final 10 points.
A slow start in the second that saw the Bulldogs allow the first three points was turned around on a Lute service error that started a 6-1 run for the U of R.
After a deadlock five more times after that, PLU responded to take their largest lead of the set at four, 17-13.
Much like a service error early in the set started a run for the Bulldogs, another one started a run that led to a set win, 28-26, with Paige Sugg (Federal Way, WA) posting four kills during that stretch.
In the third set another extended run early gave Redlands some breathing room as they were on top by five, 10-5.
The Bulldogs though were not able to maintain that momentum as the Lutes came back taking a 13-12 lead. A tie at 13 all was the last time Redlands was even or ahead as PLU again finished off the set extending their lead to 2-1.
PLU led throughout the fourth and final set, with the exception of a tie at seven, as they secured the win.
Van Hofwegen finished off her first collegiate weekend with a new career-high of 22 assists. Maddy Schonauer (Bakersfield, CA) added 16 assists as they combined for 38 of the team's 45. Wherry, Sugg, and Aminoff combined for 38 of the 53 kills.
The problem in the match came on the 49 total errors in comparison to the 32 for the Lutes.
Redlands returns to California for the Leopard Invitational hosted by the University of La Verne next weekend September 6-7. Their first opponent is Pacific University on Friday at 4:30 p.m. This match-up makes it four-straight Northwest Conference opponents for the Bulldogs.
