REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands women's volleyball team (3-11, 1-3 SCIAC) were even after two sets with Whittier College Tuesday evening inside Currier Gym and held a late lead in the fourth before seeing the Poets comeback to win in four.
The Bulldogs came out and held an early lead in the opening set thanks to kills by Lily Kautai (San Mateo, CA) and Brooke Patsch (Thousand Oaks, CA). The Poets then came back and tied the set at four before going in front, 6-5. Redlands, though, got two points on errors, one of which was forced by Emily Kitchin (Portland, OR) and Makaila Brooks (Las Vegas, NV) who combined on a block.
It then became deadlocked four more times, the latest at 11-11 until Whittier strung together three unanswered for their largest lead of the match at three, 13-10.
They maintained that advantage until Makenna Vanhofwegen (Buckeye, AZ) found Brooks in the middle, and after a Whittier timeout, Carter Meyers (Tustin, CA) assisted Cecily Wagstaff (Portland, OR) on the outside.
With the Poets up by three, 18-15, after a 4-0 run, it appeared that they would cruise to the opening set win, but the Bulldogs scored twice, and after a 3-0 Whittier run, they scored five of six points tying the set at 22-22.
With Whittier regaining the lead and pulling to within one of the set, Emma Kuivila called a timeout, and on the first point out of the break Jaycee Hullar (Lake Elsinore, CA) and Patsch combined on a block to save one set point. But a kill on the other side of the net on the next point made it 1-0 Whittier.
The competitive first set carried into the second with neither team holding a lead of more than three.
Each time a team had a lead of three the other side responded with a run. A mid set run for the Maroon and Grey where they won seven of nine points helped them get an edge, 19-16. During this run the U of R received kills by Kautai, Kitchen, Patsch and Hullar. The Bulldogs held the 22-21 lead late heading into a Poet timeout, but Whittier came out and won the next two to go up one, 23-22. Redlands, though had other plans, responding with the final three points of the set, which included a Poet error and kills by Kautai and Wagstaff, which tied the match at 1-1.
In the third the Bulldogs found themselves down two early, 4-2, but Vanhofwegen found Kitchin and Tiana Mariner (Lehi, UT) assisted Hullar that tied the set at four.
Redlands were trailing by only one, 6-5, but the Poets scored four of five to extend their lead to the largest of the set, 10-6. Despite the deficit Kautai had two kills with Patsch picking up one in the middle of the court and suddenly, it was tied at 11-11.
The rest of the set saw the Bulldogs tie the Poets at 19-19 and 20-20, but like the first set, Whittier finished the set off on a 3-0 run to jump in front, 2-1.
Now forced to win the last two sets, Redlands found themselves down one, 4-3 in the fourth. That one-point deficit turned into a five-point lead thanks to a 7-1 run with three Poet errors, two kills by Wagstaff, an ace by Meyers, and an assisted block between Kitchin and Esha Ball (Fresno, CA).
Following an attacking error by Whittier, Redlands remained up by five, 11-6. The next eight points, however, went to the Poets and 19 of the final 22 were won by Whittier as they went from down five to winning the set by 11, 25-14.
The ultimate difference in the match came down to errors. The Poets had 30 in total, while the Bulldogs had 45. Other than that Redlands had one more kill, two more total blocks, and were within .012 in hitting percentage.
Vanhofwegen led the way with a match-high 27 assists along with 13 digs for a double-double. Meyers served as the other primary setter, assisting on 20 kills.
Offensively Kautai had 17 kills along with 17 digs for her own double-double. Wagstaff was the other Bulldog in double figures with 10 kills. Kitchin added eight kills and 19 digs.
Defensively Mariner had 14 digs, Patsch had 2.5 blocks, and Kitchin and Ball had 1.5 blocks each.
Redlands gets Thursday off before traveling to Orange to face Chapman University at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.
