The University of Redlands women's volleyball team traveled to Whittier College for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) contest on Friday night. After a close first set, an unfortunate combination of Bulldog errors and Whittier attacks left Redlands on the short end of a straight-set loss (20-25, 13-25, 15-25).

The Maroon and Gray got off to a hot start with two straight points off a kill from senior right-side hitter Maloree Kupp (Sunnyside, WA) followed by a service ace from sophomore outside hitter Paige Davidson (Spanaway, WA). After Whittier knotted the score at 2-2, senior middle blocker Sofia Olsson (Cupertino, CA) took a shot down the middle to pull ahead, 3-2.

Errors plagued Redlands over the next few points allowing the Poets to take over, 7-9. Redlands kept within a couple of points for the rest of the set but could not surpass Whittier.

Although the Poets jumped ahead to start the second, Redlands fought its way back to 4-5 off attacks from Kupp, Olsson, and junior middle blocker Hannah Lanyon (San Diego, CA). However, Whittier's hitters found an offensive rhythm to hand the Bulldogs a 13-25, second-set loss.

The third set started similarly to the first with back to back points from Kupp and Davidson. Senior setter Emily Marty (San Diego, CA) juked Whittier's defense with a surprise tip that found the floor and a 4-2 Redlands lead. With the score tied at 6-6 Whittier began to pull away once again to eventually take the match, 15-25.

Davidson and Kupp led the team with seven kills each. Marty dished out 15 assists while junior libero Ally Busch (Long Beach, CA) patrolled the backline with 26 digs.

The Maroon and Gray (2-11, 0-4 SCIAC) get back to work tomorrow, September 28 to take on Chapman University at 2 p.m. in Currier Gym.