The University of Redlands volleyball team put together a valiant effort in Tuesday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges but suffered a hard-fought loss in four sets, 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 17-25.
The Bulldogs broke a 4-4 tie in the opening frame with sophomore defensive specialist Courtney Johnson (Dana Point, CA) at the service line, resulting in a six-point lead that held up. Redlands uncorked an impressive hitting percentage of .444 with 15 kills off of a balanced team attack.
A tight battled ensued during the second stanza, with neither team gaining much of an advantage until the Sagehens rattled off five straight points to make it 21-15. With freshman defensive specialist Dani Kritter (Culpeper, VA) providing strong serves from the baseline, Pomona-Pitzer took advantage of three Bulldog errors.
Redlands rallied back to make it 23-24 by stealing the momentum with three consecutive kills on freshman middle blocker Maddi Clark's (Escondido, CA) serve. Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Buckner (San Rafael, CA) knocked down two of her career-high 19 kills during this span.
However, the Sagehens never trailed an eventually put away the final point with freshman outside hitter Ellen Yamasaki (Salinas, CA) crushing one of her 17 kills.
Pomona-Pitzer held a slight edge in much of the third set but the Bulldogs refused to go away. Down by five at 15-20, Redlands clawed back with four kills from the trio of freshman outside hitter Jackie Starks (Long Beach, CA), senior right side Alex Martin (Highlands Ranch, CO) and Clark.
Tied at 20, 21, 22 and again at 23, the outcome was truly unpredictable. However, a jumbled play eventually led to a Yamasaki kill for the Sagehens, making it set point. A service ace by senior setter Kenzie Aries (Encinitas, CA) capped off the third-set victory for Pomona-Pitzer.
Again, the teams battled tooth and nail in the fourth frame, with the Sagehens breaking a 12-all tie by taking advantage of Redlands' hitting errors.
Down by six, the Bulldogs fought back to pull within two at 17-19, but Pomona-Pitzer stepped up with five kills in the final six points to secure the win. Junior middle blocker Rachel Bollens (Seattle, WA) nabbed two of her 10 kills in this span of points.
For Redlands, Buckner led all hitters with 19 kills, which came at a clip of .327. She also added 13 digs. Martin contributed 10 kills for a hitting percentage of .300, while sophomore setter Jennifer Wacker (Longmont, CO) dished out 43 assists and came up with 18 digs.
Overall, the Bulldogs hit .250 on the night, compared to Pomona-Pitzer's showing of .215. In addition, the Sagehens earned a total of five more points than Redlands, making the difference in an incredibly tight match.
Yamasaki led Pomona-Pitzer with 17 kills for a mark of .235, to go along with a solid defensive effort of 18 digs. Aries added 40 assists for the Sagehens.
Redlands (1-10, 1-3 SCIAC) heads to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges for Friday's 7:30 p.m. showdown against the Athenas.