WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The University of Redlands Women's Volleyball team opened their 2024 season with a quick sweep of Whitman College on the road in game one of the Whitman Invitational Friday morning. In game two that afternoon they got swept by Whitworth University despite having a chance to win the first two sets.
Match 1 - Whitman College (W, 3-0)
The opening point of the season came from Kaegan Wherry (Englewood, CO) who was set up by Makenna Van Hofwegen (Buckeye, AZ).
Midway through the first set Emma Murphy (South Jordan, UT), Wherry, and Paige Sugg (Federal Way, WA) all scored off Maddy Schonauer (Bakersfield, CA) passes as the Bulldogs held a 21-12 lead that they held on to in a first set win.
In the second, Avery Aminoff (Alexandria, VA) made it 1-0 and Redlands would grow their lead to 11, 16-5, after a 4-0 run that included kills from Wherry and Makaila Brooks (Las Vegas, NV) and a service ace from Van Hofwegen.
The Blues made a small run that pulled them within eight, 19-11, but Isabella Garey (Alexandria, VA) and Murphy led a 6-1 run to close out the set 25-12.
Whitman held their largest lead of the match at two, 4-2, to begin the third, but a kill for Sugg off a Lali Makaiwi (Las Vegas, NV) assist began a run of U of R winning 14 of the next 21 points.
Despite a late Blues' push that tied the game at 18, the Bulldogs won 25-23.
Schonauer and Van Hofwegen had 15 and 14 assists apiece. Wherry, Murphy, and Sugg had 10, nine, and seven kills, respectively.
Match 2 - Whitworth University (L, 3-0)
In a crazy 70-point first set, the Bulldogs held an early 3-0 lead as Wherry had a kill followed by a Sugg service ace.
The Pirates would then win the next six points and would lead by three, 10-7. The Bulldogs, though, won three-straight once again as the set was tied at 10.
Through the middle of the set the two sides were tied another five times, with the last one coming at 22-22. Van Hofwegen then set Wherry for a kill that tied the game at 23. The kill was followed by a Pirate error that gave UR a set-point.
Whitworth would save the set point, and the two sides would trade points until it was tied at 34-34 as neither team was able to win by the required two points until the Pirates picked up a kill and a Bulldog hitting error to win the set 36-34.
There were six ties through the first 18 points in the second, but Whitworth went on a run that made it a seven-point deficit for the Maroon and Grey, 18-11. The Bulldogs did not go away, however, winning nine of the next 11 points to tie the set at 20. The Pirates locked down the end of the set with a 5-2 run to take a 2-0 lead.
Five more ties in the opening 12 points of the third kept Redlands alive before Whitworth pulled away to win 25-13.
Wherry finished with 16 kills and Van Hofwegen added 16 assists.
The Bulldogs end their Washington trip with a match-up with Pacific Lutheran University Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.
