The University of Redlands volleyball team took on the Tigers of Occidental College in Friday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match in Currier Gym. After nabbing the first set with a solid performance, the Bulldogs repeatedly faced a deficit in the remaining three sets and came up short of the victory by scores of 25-19, 11-25, 17-25, 14-25.
During the first set, the Maroon and Gray broke an early tie with six-straight points with junior defensive specialist Karly Burningham (Sonoma, CA) at the service line. Led by junior middle blocker Ashton Martin (Redlands, CA) and freshman middle blocker Kiersten Langerud (Williamsburg, VA), the Bulldogs put together a more effective offense and stayed ahead through the final point. Despite both teams having the same number of kills at 10, Redlands' offense preformed at a clip of .206 as compared to Occidental's tally of 0.00.
However, the Tigers responded in the second set by turning a two-point lead into a seven-point advantage midway through the stanza, thanks in part to sophomore setter Tiareh Cruz's tough serving. Although Redlands cut the deficit to five with back-to-back points at 9-14, Occidental won 11 of the final 13 points of the set to even the count at one apiece.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, a slow start in the third frame prohibited them from getting back on track. One bright spot of the set included senior libero Courtney Johnson's (Dana Point, CA) quality serving as she initiated seven-consecutive points for the Maroon and Gray.
Redlands faced a similar challenge of overcoming an early hole in the fourth frame, as the Tigers jumped out to a 7-2 lead and never looked back.
Overall, Martin finished with a team-high 12 kills, while Langerud added seven. Sophomore Ellie McLeod (Redlands, CA) and junior Lauren Ellingwood (Kirkland, WA) shared the setting duties, dishing out 15 and nine assists, respectively.
Freshman libero Madison Brazeel (Yuma, AZ) led the Bulldogs from the back row with 17 digs. The team registered nine blocks, with Martin and junior outside hitter Marisa Gile (Yucaipa, CA) combining for half of them.
Redlands (1-11, 1-6 SCIAC) heads to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Saturday for a 6 p.m. showdown with the No. 17 Athenas.