REDLANDS, Calif. – Despite a five-match losing streak, the University of Redlands women's volleyball team (3-13, 1-5 SCIAC) got off a strong start Tuesday night winning the opening set against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) inside Currier Gym. But the Athenas would come back to win the final three sets and the match, 3-1.
Makenna Vanhofwegen (Buckeye, AZ) needed five assists to reach 1,000 in her career, and on the third and fourth points won by Redlands, she setup Jaycee Hullar (Lake Elsinore, CA) and Emily Kitchin (Portland, OR) for a pair of kills.
The Bulldogs' early lead got extended to eight, 13-5, thanks to a 5-0 run with kills by Makaila Brooks (Las Vegas, NV), Lily Kautai (San Mateo, CA), and Brooke Patsch (Thousand Oaks, CA) all scoring.
Redlands looked to be in complete control up nine, 16-7, but CMS responded with five unanswered points to cut the deficit to four, 16-12.
They then won five of six to get to within one, 18-17, but Carter Meyers (Tustin, CA) found Cecily Wagstaff (Portland, OR), which sparked a 4-0 run, eventually turning into a Kautai ace that sealed the set, 25-21.
Following four assists in the first set, Vanhofwegen needed only one in the second, and on the second point of the set, she found Patsch inside for a kill to even the set at one and push her career total to 1,000.
Trailing by two, 3-1, Vanhofwegen found Kitchin for the first of three unanswered points with Tiana Mariner (Lehi, UT) serving two aces to put the Bulldogs on top.
CMS came right back to reclaim a one-point lead, 6-5, but Meyers had three-straight assists, finding Wagstaff twice and Brooks once to make it 8-6 Redlands.
From that point forward, though, it was all Athenas. They went on an 11-0 run and finished the set by winning 17 of the final 24 points to even the match.
Redlands looked like they were in trouble after conceding the first six points of the third before a Kautai kill, Athena error, and a Kitchin kill made it 6-3.
With a good response by CMS that put Redlands behind by six, 11-5, Wagstaff had a connection and Kautai an ace to keep the Maroon and Grey close, 11-7.
A 4-1 Athena run would help them methodically put the set away as they finished the second on a 14-11 run, playing well enough to always keep the Bulldogs out of reach.
The fourth set began with 10 ties through 26 points as it was all knotted up at 13-13.
Then came another long CMS run, this time a 6-1 stretch that put Redlands' deficit at five, 19-14, with the Athenas six points away from ending the match.
One point after Emma Kuivila took her final timeout, CMS had a service error before Kautai served an ace and Hannah Hajnal (El Cerrito, CA) found the Bulldogs' hottest hitter of the night, Wagstaff, to cut the deficit to two, 19-17.
With all the momentum on their side, the Bulldogs drew to within one twice at 20-19 and 21-20, but ultimately, a 4-0 Athena run ended the set, 25-20, and the match, 3-1.
Redlands' defense was great in the opening set, holding CMS to an .028 hitting percentage, but the Athenas then hit .448, .325, and .406 as the Bulldogs were forced to be perfect on so many offensive chances that they were not able to keep up.
Wagstaff was the lone Bulldog in double figures with 12 kills. Kautai had seven kills and a joint team-high, along with Mariner, 16 digs. Patsch had five kills and 1.5 of the three Bulldog blocks. Vanhofwegen found 14 assists to push her total to 1,009.
Redlands now plays on a Thursday, October 15 for the first time since September 24 as they head to Claremont in two days to take on Pomona-Pitzer beginning at 7:00 p.m.
