REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Volleyball team (6-4, 0-2 SCIAC) dropped their home Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opener to Whittier College, 3-1 (25-13, 25-10, 13-25, 25-21), Saturday afternoon inside Currier Gym as their comeback attempt fell short in the fourth set.
Leading 5-4 after a Lily Houston (Reno, NV) kill off a Makenna Vanhofwegen (Buckeye, AZ) assist and a pair of attacking errors thanks to blocks by Esha Ball (Fresno, CA) and Avery Aminoff (Alexandria, VA), the Bulldogs conceded an 11-0 run to the Poets as they fell behind 15-5, eventually dropping the opening set, 25-13.
Lily Kautai (San Mateo, CA) had two early kills off Vanhofwegen and Hannah Hajnal (El Cerrito, CA) assists in the second set, but by the midway point they found themselves down double digits, 17-5. Redlands was able to cut the deficit to nine, but they lost the second set, 25-10.
In the third set the Bulldogs came out firing on all cylinders, winning four-straight points to take an early 4-1 lead. Later in the set it was 17-6 with Houston and Kautai each adding multiple kills.
The double figure lead was maintained the rest of the third as each side won their respective set (s) by 10 plus points.
The fourth set was competitive and back-and-forth with eight ties, seven of which came in the first 22 points. Vanhofwegen assisted Emily Kitchin (Portland, OR) for a kill to tie the set at 11-11.
The Poets, though, won the next two points, which gave them a lead that ballooned to five, 18-13. A string of three attacking errors and a kill by Kitchin, followed by a service ace by Kautai tied things up again at 18-18.
Over the final ten points the Bulldogs pulled within one on three different occasions before the Poets won the last three points to secure the match.
Kautai was the lone Bulldog in double figures for kills with 11. Vanhofwegen and Hajnal had 31 of the 35 assists. Ball had three kills, four solo blocks, and an assisted block.
Redlands travels to Claremont for their second road match-up with Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) this coming Tuesday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m. The Bulldogs won the previous meeting 3-1 at the beginning of the month in a non-conference match.
