The University of Redlands volleyball team faced off against the University of La Verne Leopards in Tuesday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match in Currier Gym. Despite a solid performance from freshman middle blocker Kiersten Langerud (Williamsburg, VA), the Bulldogs struggled to create any offensive momentum and fell to the visitors by scores of 21-25, 13-25, 14-25. 

The opening set revealed sparks of brilliance from the Maroon and Gray, as it battled neck-and-neck with the Leopards through the midway point of the stanza.  The teams traded points with neither squad gaining much of lead until the Bulldogs pulled ahead by a tally of 13-10 off of a solid block by junior middle blocker Ashton Martin (Redlands, CA) and junior outside hitter Marisa Gile (Yucaipa, CA). 

However, an effective timeout allowed La Verne to swing the score back in its favor when Redlands gave up three-consecutive errors.

Nonetheless, Gile came right back with a well-timed kill to put the Bulldogs back up at 14-13.

But the Leopards took the lead and never looked back en route to the opening-set win.

From here, La Verne continued to control the pace of play, winning points on a high-powered attack and a steady defense.

Langerud led the Bulldogs with a .714 hitting percentage that came off of five kills on seven attacks.  Gile finished the night with six kills. Sophomore Ellie McLeod (Redlands, CA) distributed the ball well in the first two stanzas, accumulating 16 assists. 

For the Leopards (8-2, 3-1 SCIAC), Brittany Yaxley led all players with 15 kills, while Kelsi Robinson fired off 11 from the front row.

Redlands (1-7, 1-2 SCIAC) looks to rebound on Friday, when it travels to Whittier College for a 7:30 p.m. SCIAC match against the Poets.