CLAREMONT, Ca. – The Pomona-Pitzer volleyball team picked up their third-straight sweep after defeating the Redlands Bulldogs 3-0 (25-17, 26-17, 25-16). With their win, the team advances to 9-7 on the season and 5-1 in conference play. Overall, the team swung at a season-high .282 hitting percentage, picking up 40 kills in the three sets while holding Redlands to 26 kills with 22 errors for a .037 clip. Chloe Gill led the Sagehens attack with 11 kills and a .333 hitting percentage while Lauren Asato put out another stellar performance with 20 digs on the night. Pomona-Pitzer will be back in action on Friday, Oct. 9 at 7:00 p.m. against Occidental on the road. The Sagehens will return home on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 4:00 p.m. to take on Sixth Street Rival CMS.

How It Happened

The Sagehens controlled the run of the play from the start of the game with Chloe Gill earning back-to-back kills to get things start. Pomona-Pitzer kept the momentum going, taking a 6-2 lead before the Bulldogs closed the cap to two points at 9-7. From there, the Sagehens picked up kills from Grace Fan, Kellan Hayes, Paige Wilson, as well as service aces from Lauren Asato and Adrienne Tong, giving Pomona-Pitzer a 23-13 lead. The Bulldogs were able to go on a late 4-1 run but an untimely service error with the score at 24-16 would end the set 25-17 in favor of the Sagehens.

In set two, it was Redlands who saw the ball land in their favor at the start, going on a 5-2 to take their first lead of the day. Pomona-Pitzer battled back to take the lead at 9-7, picking up kills from Chloe Gill, Kellan Hayes, and Kylie Mies. From there, the Bulldogs utilized a 6-3 run to regain the lead at 13-12 but the lead was short lived as Pomona-Pitzer answered back quickly. The Sagehens earned 13 of the next 17 points after Chloe Gill, Kellan Hayes, Chloe Kerstein, Grace Fan, Paige Wilson, and Naomi Chen-Mallouk all recorded kills to take set two 25-17. 

Redlands struggled to find an answer going into set three as the Sagehens forced four attacking errors and picked up kills from Naomi Chen-Mallouk and Kellan Hayes to take a 6-0 lead and force the Bulldogs to talk things over. The timeout didn't slow down the Sagehens as they went on an 11-4 run out of the break with Hayes, Kerstein, and Wilson all earning kills, giving Pomona-Pitzer a convincing 17-4 lead. Redlands responded with a 5-1 run to cut the Sagehens lead to 18-9. The run boosted the Bulldogs attack as they continued to pick up points, but Pomona-Pitzer's lead proved to be too big as Paige Wilson put on the finishing touches with the final kill, ending the set 25-16 to give Pomona-Pitzer their third sweep in a row.

What's Up Next

As mentioned, the Sagehens will finish the week with a match against Occidental on Friday before taking on their rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday afternoon.