SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Volleyball team (3-0) wrapped up their trip to Northern California undefeated as they beat Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) rival Occidental College 3-0 (25-21, 25-12, 25-20) in a non-conference match Saturday morning to finish off the UC Santa Cruz Invitational.
The Bulldogs found themselves tied at seven in the opening set, but six Occidental errors and a kill by Makenna Vanhofwegen (Buckeye, AZ) gave the U of R a four-point lead, 14-10.
Emma Murphy (South Jordan, UT) stretched the advantage to six, 21-15, with a solo block as she got Redlands within four points of winning the opening frame. The Tigers, though, responded with four unanswered before kills by Lily Houston (Reno, NV) and Lily Kautai (San Mateo, CA) put the set away, 25-21.
After conceding the first two points of the second, Houston had a pair of kills off Vanhofwegen's assists, which started a 15-2 Bulldog run. During the stretch Kautai had three kills and Makaila Brooks (Las Vegas, NV) and Cecily Wagstaff (Portland, OR) each added one.
Redlands maintained their double-digit advantage the rest of the way as they went up 2-0 following a 25-12 second set victory. Wagstaff added two more kills, while Paige Sugg (Federal Way, WA) had two kills and a service ace.
In what would be the final set of the morning, the Bulldogs put the match away thanks to a 9-2 run early to begin the third. Emily Kitchin (Portland, OR) had two aces, 'Ale'amaikalani Paiva (Honolulu, HI) had an ace and assist, and the Tigers committed five errors.
The rest of the way the closest the set would get was four, 24-20. The final point of the match came from Wagstaff off a Paiva assist as Redlands moved to 3-0 on the season for the first time since 2018.
Nine players registered a kill with Kautai and Wagstaff leading the way with nine and six, respectively. Vanhofwegen led with 12 assists. Paiva and Vanhofwegen had 20 and 10 digs, respectively. Brooks had three solo blocks and one assisted, Kautai had two of each.
Redlands now returns to Southern California and get's back into action next Friday, September 5 at 5:00 p.m. when they head to Pomona-Pizer for a non-conference tilt.
