LA VERNE, Calif. – The University of Redlands women's volleyball team (1-5) picked up their first win of 2026 as they took down Willamette University, 3-1, Saturday morning before finishing their day with a narrow 3-1 loss to No. 19 Batten University.
Match 1 (Willamette University; W, 3-1)
The Bulldogs used a quick 3-1 run to open the match with a lead. Makenna Vanhofwegen (Buckeye, AZ) had an ace and two assists with Cecily Wagstaff and Kaitlyn DeLong (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) both adding kills.
Following a tie at four, Wagstaff had a kill to spark a 3-0 U of R run. After the quick response the Bearcats tied the set at 13-13 and then 18-18 before a 7-2 Bulldog run closed out the set thanks to kills by Lily Kautai (San Mateo, CA), Jaycee Hullar (Lake Elsinore, CA), and Krystal Rose Huff (Mill Valley, CA).
It was another fast start in the second frame with two attacking errors by Willamette and kills by Kautai and Vanhofwegen, which gave Redlands a 4-1 lead.
Once again, the Bearcats responded well, coming back to tie the game at 10-10, 11-11, and 13-13. The U of R, though, closed things out strong, scoring 12 unanswered to secure a 2-0 lead.
After Willamette found a way to take set number three, 25-21, the Bulldogs found themselves down early in the fourth, 7-3.
Three errors on the Bearcats along with a Kautai kill and a Hannah Hajnal (El Cerrito, CA) ace tied it at seven.
Now with the lead at five, 17-12, Redlands was within eight points of the set and match. Willamette, however, went on a 10-3 run and were ahead 22-20 looking to force a decisive fifth set.
But Hajnal came back finding Huff with the first of two points to tie the set at 22-22. Following an attacking error on the Bulldogs that gave the lead back to the Bearcats, Redlands scored the final three points coming off a Vanhofwegen ace, a Willamette service error and a kill by Hullar that gave them the set, 25-23, and the match 3-1.
Kautai (16), Hullar (12), and Huff (10) each reached the double-digit kill threshold, while Vanhofwegen (28) and Hajnal (21) did the same in assists, then Kautai (16), Olivia Stanley (Lake Elsinore, CA) (13), and DeLong (13) doing it in digs.
Match 2 (No. 19 Batten University; L, 3-1)
To wrap up their weekend the Bulldogs faced off with No. 19 Batten giving them a good battle. The U of R trailed 12-6 in the opening set before a 6-1 run cut the deficit to one, 13-12.
Redlands then tied the match at 14-14, 16-16, and 17-17 before holding a 20-17 lead after a pair of Marlin errors, an ace from Hajnal and a kill by Huff. Batten, though, finished the set off on an 8-3 run going in front early.
Redlands responded well in the second, holding a 4-1 lead early thanks to kills by DeLong, Wagstaff, and Kautai followed with an ace by Stanley. The lead grew to as many as eight, 17-9, which allowed Redlands to tie the match up.
The Bulldogs were within two, 11-9, in the middle of the third, but the Marlins started to pull away thanks to a 13-5 run. The U of R, though, won four-straight points to stay alive, but their 10-point deficit would prove to be too much as they dropped the set, 25-18.
Trailing 12-9 in the must-win fourth, a string of three Batten errors allowed the Bulldogs to tie the set. They then took a lead.
After some back-and-forth, Redlands found themselves two points away from a fifth set holding a 23-21 lead after a mini 3-0 run. The final push, though, would come from Batten who came right back winning the final four points to end the match.
After playing four teams that were ranked or receiving votes in the national polls, the Bulldogs return home for their home opener on Monday, September 14 at 6:00 p.m. when they host Westcliff University.
