The University of Redlands women's volleyball team headed to Eagle Rock on Saturday evening to take on Occidental College in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) showdown. Despite very tight games, the Bulldogs never trailed in any of the three sets, taking the match in straight sets (25-22, 25-22, 25-18).
With the score knotted at 7-7 in the first, sophomore outside hitter Paige Davidson (Spanaway, WA) sparked a 4-0 run with a crafty kill from sophomore setter Tati Luevano (San Pablo, CA). Junior middle blocker Hannah Lanyon (San Diego, CA) found the floor with a service ace, followed by another Davidson kill and a second Lanyon ace.
Although the Tigers tied it up at 15 and at 20, Redlands never relented. Sophomore outside hitter Natalie Starlin (Las Vegas, NV) pounded a kill from Luevano that was followed by two more service aces from Lanyon. A pair of Tiger errors and an attack from junior right-side hitter Angelina Hughes (Wildomar, CA) closed out the 25-20 Redlands victory.
The Maroon and Gray jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second that included three kills and a huge solo block from senior middle blocker Sophia Olsson (Cupertino, CA).
After that, the teams matched each other point for point until Olsson came up with a kill and then teamed up with senior right-side hitter Maloree Kupp (Sunnyside, WA) for a stuff to take a slight, 13-10 lead. From there, Occidental seemed to never trail for more than a point or two as the score read, 23-22. A Davidson kill and a Tiger error solidified the second-set victory for the Bulldogs.
The third set started in a similar fashion, as both teams played evenly and the score knotted at 9-9.
However, Redlands offense started clicking on all cylinders as the team went on a 5-2 run. Olsson started the spurt with a kill from senior setter Emily Marty (San Diego, CA) while junior libero Ally Busch (Long Beach, CA) added an ace and Starlin found the floor for another kill.
From there Redlands began to pull away again, but this time taking the match. Olsson bookended the run with a pair of kills while Davidson added a couple of aces for the 25-18 Bulldog victory.
Starlin ended the night with 10 kills, while Davidson added nine and Olsson supplied seven.
The Bulldogs (4-13, 2-6 SCIAC) look to keep this momentum when they return home on Sunday, October 12, for a non-conference match against Mills College at 12 noon.