Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
Article by: Abby Salmon (Sports Information Intern)
WHITTIER, Calif. - Whittier College experienced a different kind of Friday night lights as the volleyball team faced off against the University of Redlands in conference play at the Graham Athletic Center. It was a short evening as the Purple & Gold swept the Bulldogs 25-20, 25-13, 25-15 en route to their third straight victory.
Whittier improves to 8-7, 3-1 SCIAC, while Redlands drops to 2-11, 0-4 SCIAC. Over their last two matches WC has not given up a set outscoring their opponents 6-0 as they sit 3rd in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Standings.
"The match against Caltech was a wake up call," explained Head Coach Chris Duarte-McDermott. "We are just refocused trying to get a little bit better every day at practice and tackle every match with the same mind set. Every win is a collective win from the efforts of the team in preparing at practice and the energy they all give at matches. We just have to take it one day at a time and continue to work hard on playing good volleyball."
It was a bit of a slow start to set one for Whittier until Valerie van der Linden (Auburn, Calif.) earned the first kill for the Poets after the first ten points of the match. Afterwards, Haley Petruescu (La Mirada, Calif.) was able to take the team on a four point serving run to get the Poets their first lead of the match at 9-7. The front line of defense made things even more difficult for Redlands as Alaina Rhee (Kent, WA), Franki Piloto (Ontario, Calif.), Katelyn Popoff (Hacienda Heights, Calif.), and van der Linden all contributed to a total of three blocks within Whittier's next five points. The lead increased to 18-11 following a pair of attacking errors by UR. The Bulldogs though battled down the stretch winning six of the next seven points to cut the deficit to two. But this was as close as Redlands would get as Serena Alvarez (La Habra, Calif.) and Jazmyn Sudbrook-Johnson (Fremont, Calif.) would put together three strikes that put the lead back to five followed by a kill from Marissa Montoya (Glendora, Calif.) that put WC on top.
Piloto had a great start to set two with three kills coming in Whittier's first five points. The Purple & Gold though couldn't separate themselves from their opponent until an ace from van der Linden put them up by five. The Bulldogs never had the chance to come back by the time the score reached 22-13 after a kill from Rhee. Makayla Wright (Covina, Calif.) finished out the set with a three point serving run, during which she tallied two assists and an ace. Piloto contributed again in the third set with a pair of kills and Sudbrook-Johnson added to the score with a kill of her own.
Shortly after, Whittier once again gained separation with the help of a six point serving run from van der Linden to put the score at 14-7. The Poets then earned six points moving the score to 20-10 and they didn't look back splitting the next ten points with UR giving them the sweep.
Both right sides earned a majority of the Poets' kills for the match as Piloto finished with ten and Sudbrook-Johnson with eight. Montoya and Wright both led the team in digs with ten each, while Wright tallied 14 assists. Van der Linden had a match finishing with four kills, three service aces and three block assists.
Whittier returns to action this afternoon on the road, Saturday, September 28th, against No. 4 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas at 4:00pm.
