The University of Redlands women's volleyball team took on Pomona-Pitzer – which sat just in front of the Bulldogs in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings – Tuesday night. It was déjà vu, however, as the match went to five sets like the last time these two teams met, with the Sagehens grabbing the 3-2 (17-25, 25-18, 17-25, 27-25, 15-12) victory.
Sophomore outside hitter Paige Davidson (Spanaway, WA) led the Bulldogs (7-16, 4-8 SCIAC) with 18 kills and 17 digs for a double-double. Junior middle blocker Hannah Lanyon (San Diego, CA) had nine kills and three blocks, including two solo stuffs.
The Bulldogs pair of setters helped fuel the offense as senior setter Emily Marty (San Diego, CA) and sophomore setter Tati Luevano (San Pablo, CA) each posted 21 assists. Defensively, junior libero Ally Busch (Long Beach, CA) had 32 digs on the night.
Pomona-Pitzer jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the opening set, but the Bulldogs responded with a 5-1 run of their own to take the lead. Lanyon had back-to-back kills, before capping the spree with a solo block at the net to give Redlands a 6-5 advantage.
Things remained close until the Bulldogs took off and grabbed a five-point lead, 18-13. The Sagehens tried to battle and scored back-to-back points, but Redlands responded with four unanswered points to inch closer to set point, 22-15. Davidson sparked the run with a kill, followed by kills from junior right-side/outside hitter Angelina Hughes (Wildomar, CA) and Lanyon.
Senior middle blocker Sofia Olsson (Cupertino, CA) gave Redlands set point, before a Sagehen error ended the frame 25-17 in favor of the visiting Bulldogs.
Pomona-Pitzer evened the match at one set apiece, winning the second set 25-18, but Redlands took back its upper hand in the third.
Down 4-5 early in the third, Redlands took off on an 8-1 scoring spree to not only take over the lead, but also create some separation. A kill from senior outside hitter Christina Casey (Sherwood, OR) put junior defensive specialist Emily Vankoll (Moraga, CA) at the line, where she immediately served up an ace.
Some Sagehen errors plagued the home team, forcing Pomona-Pitzer to call a timeout, trailing by five. Out of the break, Luevano caught the Sagehens off guard and dumped a kill in an open space to put the Bulldogs up 12-6.
The Bulldogs kept pushing and found themselves back at set point off a solo Casey stuff, before freshman middle blocker Sydney Feenstra (Blaine, WA) laid down the winning kill to give Redlands the 25-17 set victory.
With the pressure on, Pomona-Pitzer came out in the fourth looking to force a fifth and opened with the first four points of the set. Despite the Bulldogs' best efforts, the Sagehens grabbed a 27-25 victory in the fourth to extend the match to five.
The Bulldogs took a 5-2 lead early, but the Sagehens turned things in their favor with five-straight points in the fifth. Vankoll served up an ace to tie things at 7-7, but Pomona-Pitzer kept pushing to claim the 15-12 set win for the match victory.
Redlands returns home to host Occidental on Friday at 7 p.m.