THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Volleyball team (5-1) took down Linfield University in five sets before dropping a five-set match twenty minutes later to University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in the first two of three matches at the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational hosted by California Lutheran University (CLU).
Match 1 (Linfield; W, 3-2)
The Bulldogs took a first set lead, 10-8, after a pair of Wildcat errors, a Makenna Vanhofwegen (Buckeye, AZ) ace, and a Lily Kautai (San Mateo, CA) kill.
Redlands did not trail until Linfield won two-straight taking the lead, 21-20. Lily Houston (Reno, NV) and Cecily Wagstaff (Portland, OR), though, each added a kill, and the Bulldogs took advantage of three errors by the Wildcats allowing them to take the opening set, 25-23.
Kills by Kautai and Wagstaff, along with a service ace by 'Ale'amaikalani Paiva (Honolulu, HI), helped the Bulldogs get out to a 5-1 lead in the second stanza.
Midway through the second set the Wildcats pulled within one, 15-14, before the Bulldogs won five-straight thanks to kills by Kautai and Paige Sugg (Federal Way, WA) pushing the lead to 20-14 before the Maroon and Grey eventually took the set, 25-18.
The third set was controlled by Linfield leading 4-0 and would never look back as they stayed alive in the match.
In the fourth Houston and Wagstaff combined on a block early and Vanhofwegen assisted Houston on a kill putting UR up 2-0. Seven of the next nine points, however, were won by the Wildcats as they led majority of the set.
With Linfield within six points of leveling the match at two sets, Emma Murphy (South Jordan, UT) put away two kills off Hanna Hajnal (El Cerrito, CA) assists and this sparked a 10-2 Bulldog run that put them in front 22-21.
An attacking error by the Wildcats made it 23-22 but a service error and two attaching errors on the Bulldogs gave the fourth set to Linfield forcing a decisive fifth.
Redlands conceded the first three points in the final period, scored the next three, and then conceded five-straight that put them down five, 8-3.
But 10 of the following 15 points, however, were won by Redlands leveling things at 13-13. The Bulldogs saved two match points at 14-13 and 15-14 before winning the final three points to secure the set, 17-15, and the match, 3-2.
Kautai finished with 22 kills and Murphy had 13. Vanhofwegen and Hajnal each had 20 assists. Paiva and Hajnal led the defense with 19 and 15 digs, respectively. At the net Houston had five assisted blocks, Makaila Brooks (Las Vegas, NV) four, and Wagstaff and Murphy with three each.
Match 2 (UC Santa Cruz; L, 3-2)
In the nightcap the Bulldogs dropped set one, which they trailed throughout, but they bounced back in the following two sets to take a 2-1 lead.
In the second set trailing 16-15, the Bulldogs started a 10-3 run that leveled the match following a kill by Kautai off a Hajnal assist. Kautai, Murphy, Brooks, and Avery Aminoff (Alexandria, VA) all had kills during the run.
Five points to begin the third helped the Bulldogs hold the early lead. They led until the Banana Slugs tied it at 10-10.
Soon after Redlands won 14 of the final 24 points as they took a 2-1 lead and were one set away from a 6-0 start to the season.
With the set seemingly out of reach at 15-2 in favor of UCSC, Redlands got within five, 20-15. The late run would come up short as they conceded the set, 25-18.
For a third time during the match the Bulldogs allowed the Banana Slugs to take a commanding lead in a set as they found themselves down five, 12-7, in the first to 15, win by two, fifth set.
Three attacking errors and a kill by Aminoff, however, had Redlands within two, 13-11. On match point, 14-11, Vanhofwegen set up Brooks to keep the Bulldogs alive. A kill on the next point for UCSC, though, ended the match.
Kautai added another 14 more kills, while Houston joined her in double figures with 12. Hajnal and Vanhofwegen ran the offense with 22 and 20 assists, respectively.
Redlands will end the invitational Saturday afternoon against the University of Puget Sound beginning at 2:00 p.m.
