U of R Women's Volleyball Drops Match at Chapman

Photo Credit: Sam Keary
Photo Credit: Sam Keary

The University of Redlands women's volleyball team took to the road to take on Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opponent, Chapman University on Friday night. Despite a close second and third set, the Bulldogs ultimately came up on the short end of a three-set loss (13-25, 20-25, 21-25).

After dropping the first set, 13-25, the Bulldogs scored the first point of the second off a crafty kill from sophomore outside hitter Paige Davidson (Spanaway, WA). The Maroon and Gray matched Chapman point-for-point early on with two attacks off the hands of senior middle blocker Sofia Olsson (Cupertino, CA) and first-year right-side hitter Sydney Feenstra (Blaine, WA).

Chapman gathered some momentum to overtake the lead, but Redlands found its rhythm to go on a 5-0 run and surpass the Panthers at 14-13. Feenstra and junior middle blocker Hannah Lanyon (San Diego, CA) dominated the span each with a kill and then teamed up to block a Chapman attack, forcing the Panthers to call a timeout.

Although Redlands stayed within one for most of the set, the Panthers pulled away to take the second set, 25-20.

Despite Chapman taking the lead through much of the third, the Bulldogs strung together quality plays late in the game to pull within four.

Kills from junior right-side hitter Angelina Hughes (Wildomar, CA), Davidson, and Olsson drove Chapman to call another timeout as Redlands crept closer at 19-24. The Bulldogs managed a couple more points off a Chapman error and a big block from Feenstra and Olsson, but the Panthers soon took the game 25-21.

Davidson ended the night with 10 kills while Olsson added seven. Junior libero Ally Busch (Long Beach, CA) patrolled the back row with 24 digs.

The Bulldogs (6-14, 3-7 SCIAC) jump back into action tomorrow, October 19, for two matches, first against Caltech at 2 p.m. and then UC Santa Cruz at 4 p.m. in Currier Gym.