Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

REDLANDS, Calif. – For the second time this season he Whittier College volleyball team has swept the Bulldogs of the university of Redlands as they cruised to the 25-22, 25-23, 25-14 victory Saturday afternoon at Currier Gym.

Whittier now improves to 9-15, 4-9 SCIAC, while Redlands drops to 7-13, 2-11 SCIAC.

This was a match-up between the seventh and eighth place teams  but Whittier was able to bounce back from their three set loss to the Regals of Cal Lutheran University last night to sweep the Bulldogs. 

Redlands opened up the match with a fast start putting together a solid offensive performance taking an early lead 10-5.  But the Poets were able to gather themselves and storm back to score five straight points behind a couple of kills from Alyssa Sialaris that evened the game up at 10 apiece. 

A back-and-forth battle ensued with neither squad gaining more than a three-point lead.  Whittier forced a 17-14 advantage but Redlands clawed its way back to force another knotted score at 20-all.  But Whittier was able to remain consistent with their play and was able to finish off the set 25-22. 

The second set started off tighter with neither team able to take a substantial lead until the 20-20 mark when Redlands rattled off three straight points to take the biggest lead of the set.  But Whittier battled back and rallied to put up five unanswered to steal the second set away from the Bulldogs to go up 2-0.

The third and final frame proved to be all Whittier as they used a .414 hitting percentage and strong serving to go up early 11-2 and then 16-6.  Redlands tried to rally late but they could only muster a couple points at one time unable to gather any momentum or get into any sort of rhythm allowing Whittier to cruise to the third set victory and the match.

Whittier was led on offense by Alayna Rigo who finished with a match high 17 kills on 40 attempts for a .325 hitting percentage, while Lauren Whiteman had a season best 11 kills on 23 attempts for a .435 hitting percentage.  A day after finishing with a game high 16 kills, Sialaris was held to a mere 5 kills.  Maria Montero got the nod at the setter position for the second straight match and finished with a spectacular game with a game high 33 assists, eight digs, and five service aces. 

Whittier continues with SCIAC play as they host the Panthers of Chapman University, Tuesday, October 23 beginning at 7:30pm.