LOS ANGELES – The University of Redlands Women's Volleyball team (14-10, 8-8 SCIAC) ended the regular season with a 3-1 loss at Occidental College Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs were tied early on after kills by Emily Kitchin, Makenna Vanhofwegen (Buckeye, AZ), Cecily Wagstaff (Portland, OR), and Lily Kautai (San Mateo, CA). But Occidental would retake the lead and never let it go as they scored 21 of the next 35 points to take the first set 25-18.

The Bulldogs trailed by four, 5-1 and then at 7-3, before falling behind by double digits, 22-12 in the second set, before Hannah Hajnal (El Cerrito, CA) assisted Avery Aminoff (Alexandria, VA) followed by 'Ale'amaikalani Paiva (Honolulu, HI) setting up Kautai during a 5-1 run to get UR within six, 23-17. The Tigers, though, won the final two points to go up two sets.  

It was a set of runs in the third. Each team had four runs of three or better as the set was deadlocked 12 times, 10 of which came over the final 41 points in a 31-29 Bulldog set win.

Redlands was in great shape leading by six, 12-6, in the fourth as Kautai and Lily Houston (Reno, NV) each had two kills. Occidental, though, did not concede, responding with a 17-7 run that put them up by four, 23-19.

Redlands re-responded with kills by Aminoff, Houston, and Kautai that tied the set at 24-24. But much like the second set the Tigers would take the final two points to win the set and this time the match as well.  

Kautai had another big match with 19 kills and 13 digs. Paige Sugg (Federal Way, WA) quietly had 19 digs and six kills in three sets. Vanhofwegen and Hajnal had 20 and 23 assists, respectively. Esha Ball (Fresno, CA) was strong in the middle with six total blocks and four kills on only eight swings.

The Bulldogs play in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament First Round match on the road next Tuesday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m. traveling to Thousand Oaks, CA to take on California Lutheran University.