REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Volleyball team fell in straight sets to No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Tuesday night inside Currier Gym 25-15, 25-11, 25-15.

Redlands who was coming off a sweep of Occidental College moves to 1-12, 1-8 SCIAC.    

The Bulldogs were within striking distance early in the first set, 4-3 with Avery Aminoff (Alexandria, VA) and Kylie Martin (Centennial, CO) each recording kills.  The Athenas put some distance between them and the Maroon and Grey soon after with four in a row.  Then over the next twelve points the lead was never more than six and was at a four point differential twice, with the last coming at 14-10. Of those six points scored in this stretch, three were scored by Katie Allbery (Spokane, WA).

The Athenas scored three-straight and looked to have the set in hand, leading 17-10, but the Bulldogs responded with three unanswered, capitalizing off two CMS errors and scoring on a Paige Sugg (Federal Way, WA) service ace. 

Eight of the final 10 points went the way of CMS as the Bulldogs dropped the opening set, 25-15.

Redlands opened the second set with the first two points, both hitting errors by the Athenas. CMS took the lead right back at 3-2 and 4-3, but UR was able to match quickly earning kills from Sugg and Aminoff that tied the period up. 

Despite the great start by Redlands, the Athenas would go on to win nine-straight and 14 of the next 15 points moving the advantage to thirteen, 18-5. The remaining thirteen points were nearly equal with the Athenas holding a narrow 7-6 advantage as they were able to close out the second set, 25-11. 

In the third and final frame, it looked like the Bulldogs might be able to take a set from the top ranked team in the country, winning five of the first seven points. Sugg and Martin had kills and Laural Pittman (Los Angeles, CA) recorded a service ace.

CMS would come back though in the set deadlocking the period on five different occasions. Leading 10-8, the Bulldogs chances at winning the set ended when CMS strung together a 10-0 run and a 15-2 stretch that made it 23-12. Aminoff had a kill off a Lyric Waterman (Aurora, CO) assist and Ella Goettsche (Eastvale, CA) served two aces for a 3-0 run before the Athenas would close it out at 25-15. 

The Bulldogs struggled to create and put away chances with a .043 hitting percentage but did avoid a lot of errors with only 15 on 93 total attempts. The 15 errors are their third fewest after 12 errors in the win vs. Occidental last Saturday and 12 against CMS (Sep. 27) earlier this season.

Sugg had a team-high five kills and Aminoff and Martin each recorded four. Pittman had the second most digs in the game with 15, her most in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play. Waterman had a team-high 11 assists, her sixth double-digit assist game in SCIAC competition.

The Bulldogs will continue their SCIAC schedule Thursday, October 13 with a trip to Orange County to take on Chapman University beginning at 7:00pm.