THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Volleyball team wrapped up their 2021 season Saturday night with a road match-up against California Lutheran University.
The Maroon and Grey attempted to act as spoilers for the Regals Senior Night, and despite providing some pushback in the second and third sets it wasn't enough as CLU would pull off the sweep 25-13, 25-23, 25-19.
Redlands ends the season 2-20, 0-16 SCIAC winning two sets within Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play against Occidental College and Whittier College.
Cal Lutheran came out strong in the first set hitting .429 en route to putting UR behind. Early on senior Paige Davidson (Spanaway, WA) kept it a two-score game with a kill and service ace back-to-back. Later, Shelby Dawson (Fontana, CA) added a kill and was joined by a Kiki Stradford (Lake Forest, CA) service ace that made it a five-point deficit, but a finishing 9-2 run by CLU would swing the momentum.
A pair of aces from Natalie Starlin (Las Vegas, NV) and a kill from Saudya Reagor (Banning, CA) would get the Bulldogs off to a strong start in the second set. That lead increased to 7-3 following a trio of kills from Stradford, Dawson, and Makayla Sorensen (Lakewood, CA). A 4-1 by CLU would make it a one-score game after that, but UR was prepared to continue to provide the offense as they stayed in front at 14-11, 15-13, and 16-15. During the run, Davidson provided another two strikes and Dawson picked up another.
Down the stretch, the Bulldogs held 19-18 and 20-19 advantages with Bella Thornbury (Grass Valley, CA) and Starlin converting upfront. Three unanswered by the Regals would then put them on top 22-20, but again the Maroon and Grey had a big response with Starlin and Stradford combining for two kills that tied the set up at 22-22. Maci Haddad and Reagor then swapped kills to keep it tied, but it would be the Purple & Gold who would finish off the set with a pair of points.
The third set was all CLU early jumping in front 11-4, which included an 8-0 run. UR was able to weather the storm though winning four of five that got them within five, before rattling off four in a row behind a strong serving effort by Hannah Miller (Round Rock, TX). After that, the Regals continued to extend their lead little by little moving the score to 20-12 and then 22-14. Redlands would get three in a row late sparked by a Thornbury ace, but it couldn't spark a comeback as CLU would go on to take the sweep.
Starlin reached double figures with 10 kills on 28 attempts to hit .214 to go with three aces and four digs. Reagor added five kills and Stradford, Davidson, and Dawson each put up four. Dawson also provided 12 assists and six digs, and Miller had 10 digs playing libero.