Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Volleyball team pulled off a huge and much needed victory Tuesday evening in the Graham Athletic Center over the University of Redlands 21-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-19.

The win is the second in a row for the Purple & Gold as they improve to 4-10, 2-3 SCIAC, while Redlands drops to 10-5, 2-4 SCIAC.

The match was tight from beginning to end and was a seesaw battle throughout.

Both teams came out firing in the first set with Whittier hitting .346 (13-26) and Redlands at a .300 clip (15-30).  Jasmine Tong (Fullerton, Calif.) got things rolling with three straight to put Whittier in front early.  The points would go back and forth soon after and the set would become deadlocked midway through at 15-15 after a service ace from Camryn Purdom (Moreno Valley, Calif.).

The frame would become tied once more at 19-19 but UR would be able to rally with four straight that proved the difference as they went in front 23-19 grabbing the lead and maintaining it to go in front 1-0.

But it would be all Whittier from that point on seeing their back up against the ball they would come out hitting .261 in the second set, while picking up their defensive front holding the Bulldogs to just .154.

The Poets trailed 12-7 in the early stages of the set but would chip away at the Redlands lead eventually tying it at 20-20 behind three unanswered, which included a kill from Rebecca Slattery (Los Altos, Calif.), and a service ace from Alexis Mills (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) and an attacking error by UR.

After trailing by one 22-21, Whittier would again rally to level the match at 1-1 winning the final four points led by Jazmyn Sudbrook-Johnson (Fremont, Calif.) who had two kills during the run.

Whittier kept the momentum into the third capitalizing off of three attacking errors from the Bulldogs to go in front 9-7.  UR would win six of the next seven points however to regain the lead 13-10.  They would hold this lead until the 16-16 mark when Whittier would again rally to coming back from a one point deficit at 23-22 to win the next three points off of an attacking error, ball handling error and a kill from Slattery to go in front 2-1.

In the fourth, Whittier went in front 3-0 and continued on the gas extending the lead to 12-4 behind a 7-1 run.  UR regrouped with three straight to cut into the deficit but a quick timeout from Chris Duarte-McDermott would stop the Bulldogs rally and get the momentum back with the Purple & Gold.  Redlands would get within four at 21-16 but that's as close as they would get as WC would get kills from Sudbrook-Johnson and Olive Anagu (Culver City, Calif.) that clinched the victory.

Slattery led the Poets with 15 kills and totaled five blocks (4 assist/1 solo).  Anagu posted a double double with 10 kills and 12 kills along with four block assists, while Sudbrook-Johnson would register seven.

Tong led in the assist category with 17, while also posting double digits in digs with 10, while Purdom totaled 15.

Clarissa Standafer (Alta Loma, Calif.) again proved tough in the back row posting 16 digs.       

Whittier hits the road for six straight road games beginning with Chapman University this Friday, September 30 beginning at 7:00pm before turning right around the very next day to take on Claremont-M-S on Saturday, October 1 beginning at 4:00pm.