The University of Redlands women's volleyball team put up a late fight on Tuesday night but ultimately fell 0-3 (16-25, 17-25, 27-29) to California Lutheran University.
The Bulldogs drop to 2-10 overall, 0-3 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), while the Regals improve to 9-5, 3-0 SCIAC.
Sophomore outside hitter Paige Davidson (Spanaway, WA) led the attack with six kills on the night, while junior middle blocker Hannah Lanyon (San Diego, CA) and senior right-side hitter Maloree Kupp (Sunnyside, WA) each added five kills of their own. Senior setter Emily Marty (San Diego, CA) contributed 12 assists and sophomore setter Tati Luevano (San Pablo, CA) dished out another 10.
After dropping the first set 25-16, Redlands came out fired up in the second and opened to a 5-1 lead. Senior middle blocker Sammi Tafoya (Granite Bay, CA) teamed up with Kupp and Davidson for two blocks during the run, before Cal Lutheran managed to even the set at 6-6 and take over the lead.
The Regals took the second set 25-17 and hoped to carry that momentum into the third. Despite CLU taking a 10-3 upper hand early, the Bulldogs weren't going to roll over and put together a late push. Down 15-21, Lanyon started a four-point run with a kill to put Redlands back in the game and fueled it with two great service aces, pulling the Bulldogs within two, 21-19.
CLU increased its lead to four points once again, 24-20, but Davidson laid down a kill and then stepped to the line to put the Bulldogs on another run.
While Cal Lutheran thought a service error from Davidson gave them match point, it had taken a touch off a Regal to turn into an ace for the Bulldogs and tie the set 24-24.
The score would tie up at 25-25, 26-26 and 27-27, before the Regals managed to end the set with a 29-27 win, taking the match victory.
Redlands heads out on the road, taking on Whittier College on Friday at 7 p.m., before returning to Currier Gym for a match on Saturday against Chapman with a 2 p.m. serve time.
