Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College volleyball team Wednesday evening opened up SCIAC play with a 25-18, 19-25, 25-11, 25-21 victory over the University of Redlands achieving their first home victory of 2013 in front of a raucous crowd of almost 500 strong. 

Whittier now improves to 3-2, 1-0 SCIAC, while Redlands drops to 3-5, 0-1 SCIAC.

Senior Alayna Rigo (Chino Hills, Calif.) led all players with 15 kills on 38 attempts, while finishing with 12 digs.  Freshman Rebecca Slattery (Mountain View, Calif.) also came out strong finishing with 12 kills on 21 attempts for an astounding .524 hitting percentage.  She also tallied six block assists.

Behind a strong fan attendance, including the men's water polo team who donned their purple paint, glitter and speedos from the front row the Poets used .308 and .379 hitting percentages in the first and third games to pull off the four set victory. 

Alyssa Acosta (Whittier, Calif.) led the defensive unit finishing with a team high 16 digs, while Adriana Moore (La Habra, Calif.) finished with 14 digs and a game high four service aces.

Lauren Whiteman (Mission Viejo, Calif.) was the other Poet in double figures finishing with 10 kills on 22 attempts for a .455 hitting percentage.

Up front, Torrey Mitsunaga (Culver City, Calif.) and Maria Montero (Hemet, Calif.) proved to be a dual threat finishing with 32 and 18 assists, each respectively. 

For Redlands, Morgan Buckner finished with a team high 11 kills, while Courtney Johnson collected a game high 17 digs.

After a tight first set that went back and forth, Redlands was able to level the match at one in game two.  But in game three, the Poets found their offensive spark once again jumping out to a 10-2 lead en route to the 25-11 set.  Then in the fourth, after going down 19-15, Whittier closed out the set on a 10-2 run helping them come away with the victory.

Whittier returns to the court this weekend as they take part in the La Verne Invite.  They take on La Verne (September 13 @ 11:00am) and Whitman (September 13 @ 3:00pm) before wrapping up the tournament against Clarkson (September 14 @ 11:00am) UC Santa Cruz (September 14 @ 3:00pm).