LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The University of Redlands Volleyball team fell in straight sets on the road Saturday, 25-18, 25-15, 25-15 to Occidental College. The last time these two teams met the Bulldogs took a set off the Tigers.
It was a competitive start to the first set, with the Bulldogs holding a 2-1 lead and keeping things tied on another five occasions thanks to kills by Natalie Starlin (Las Vegas, NV), Hannah Miller (Round Rock, TX), and a pair from Saudya Reagor (Banning, CA).
Down 12-10, the Bulldogs used a 3-1 run to reclaim the lead, 14-13, with Bella Thornbury (Grass valley, CA) spreading the ball around finding Kiki Stradford (Lake Forest, CA), Miller, Starlin and Makayla Sorenson (Lakewood, CA) for kills.
This would be the last lead UR would hold though as Oxy would win five of the next six points to go in front 18-15. A service error would make it a two point set at 19-17, but again Oxy would string together six of seven to put the Bulldogs in an early hole.
It was a slow start to the second set for the Maroon and Grey falling behind 14-7. But they managed to string together four unanswered taking advantage of a pair of Tiger errors, while getting a kill from Angelina Hughes (Wildomar, CA) and a service ace from Starlin to cut into the lead, 14-11.
The Bulldogs stayed within three at 15-12 and 16-13 after capitalizing on a few Oxy service errors. But again the Tigers were able to close the frame out with a run, this time winning eight of ten to move the deficit to 2-0.
Redlands battled hard to start the third with a 4-0 run capitalizing on three Tiger attacking errors and getting a kill from Miller. Miller then combined with Stradford soon after with a couple of kills to get UR within three at 11-8, but six unanswered by Oxy would open things up at 17-8. Miller and Katie Allbery (Spokane, WA) tried to get some momentum back for the Maroon and Grey with back to back tallies late, but the deficit was too much to overcome as the Tigers would go on to take the sweep.
Miller led the way with eight kills and was second on the team with eight digs. First-year Laural Pittman (Granada Hills, CA) had a team-high 11 digs, Dawson had a team-high nine assists, and Reagor and Hughes each had a solo block too.
The Bulldogs return to the court matching up with the No. 2 team in the country, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, on Tuesday, October 19 beginning at 7:00 p.m.