Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – For the second time this season the Whittier College volleyball team has earned a victory over the University of Redlands as they pulled off a clean sweep of the Bulldogs Tuesday evening 25-13, 25-20, 25-16.

With the win the Poets improve to 7-14, 5-7 SCIAC, while Redlands drops to 2-16, 2-10 SCIAC.

The win snaps a five match losing skid as the Poets have four games left on their schedule. 

Whittier used a .294 hitting percentage to roll to the sweep led by Rebecca Slattery (Los Altos, Calif.) who finished with a match high 17 kills on 30 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage.  She was joined by Casie Lowden (Glendora, Calif.) who had 10 kills on 21 attempts for a .429 clip to go with nine digs.

Torrey Mitsunaga (Culver City, Calif.) finished with 32 assists and 14 digs, while Clarissa Standafer (Alta Loma, Calif.) had 13 digs in the back row.  Haley Whyte (Mission Viejo, Calif.) led the front row finishing with four blocks (3 Assists/1 Solo), while Slattery had two.

From the opening whistle it was all Whittier as they jumped out in front 14-4 in the first set behind five unanswered thanks to two service aces from Jasmine Tong (Fullerton, Calif.) and a kill from Whyte.  The Poets would use four straight late in the frame before Slattery and Malia Valdivieso (Chula Vista, Calif.) would put the finishing touches on the first set with back to back kills. 

In the second Redlands held a slight advantage 8-7 and would stay deadlocked at 12-12 but that's as close as they would get as the Purple & Gold would put together a 6-0 run sparked by four kills led by Lowden. 

This would give the Poets cushion as they would lead 20-13, which would prove important as they held off a late Bulldog surge to take the second 25-20.

In the final frame it was all Whittier as they would again go in front 10-5 before putting together a nice run of seven points late en route to grabbing the third 25-16.

The Poets return home for their second to last home match this Friday, October 24 as they host Chapman University beginning at 7:30pm.