The University of Redlands volleyball team suffered its first loss in eight matches by faltering against the University of La Verne in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match on Tuesday night. The Maroon and Gray came up short in the 19-25, 25-22, 22-25, 21-25 battle to finish out the regular season.

In a defensive struggle between the two teams, Redlands mustered a hitting percentage of only .126 but rallied for 7.5 blocks. As a team, the Bulldogs put away only 44 kills with junior outside Jackie Hamilton (Loma Linda, CA) posting 14 and junior middle blocker Megan Phillips (Vista, CA) contributing 13. Senior outside hitter Ali Massei (San Carlos, CA) added 10 as the only double-digit performer for the Bulldogs. Massei also provided five service aces and three block assists.

La Verne hit .253 on the night and defended the net well with 10.5 blocks.

Redlands (20-5, 12-2 SCIAC) now looks forward to hosting the first-ever SCIAC Postseason Tournament on Friday. The first semifinal match pits the No. 2 Cal Lutheran University Regals against No. 3 La Verne at 5 p.m. in Currier Gym. The top-seeded Bulldogs face off against No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the 7:30 p.m. match. The highest remaining seed will host the tournament final on Saturday at 6 p.m.