REDLANDS, Ca. – The Pomona-Pitzer volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-17) sweep over the Redlands Bulldogs on Tuesday night. Paige Mountanos recorded a team high 11 kills with a .500 hitting percentage with the team swinging at a .256 clip on the evening. Hanna Chen recorded four aces and led the team with eight digs while Eleanor Nicholson dished out 14 assists. With the win, the Sagehens are no 8-9 on the season and 4-2 in conference play. Pomona-Pitzer will be back on Saturday, Oct. 7 when they host the La Verne Leopards at 4:00 p.m. in Voelkel Gymnasium.
 
How It Happened
The Sagehens wasted no time against the Bulldogs, jumping out to an early 5-2 lead after scoring the opening three points of the night. The Bulldogs quickly regrouped, rallying to pull within two points at 6-4 before tying the set at 13-13. The Sagehens were able to take an 18-14 lead, utilizing a pair of Hanna Chen aces to highlight the 5-1 run. The Bulldogs nearly tie the contest once again, down by one at 19-18 but a 6-0 run from Pomona-Pitzer gave the Sagehens set one 25-18.
 
Redlands held the early advantage in set two as the Bulldogs took a slight 6-4 lead, but Pomona-Pitzer fought to tie the game at 9-9- before taking a slight 11-9 lead with kills from Eleanor Nicholson and Charlotte Sekerka. The set proved to be a back and forth battle with the Sagehens holding onto their two-point advantage until the Bulldogs knotted things at 17-17. A 3-0 run with a block from Samantha Grabb and Kellan Hayes along with a Chen ace and Grabb kill gave the Sagehens a 20-17 lead. The Bulldogs were able to rally back with a 6-3 run to tie the contest at 23-23 but Pomona-Pitzer called a timeout and had Paige Mountanos and Chloe Gill both record a kill out of the break to take set two 25-23.
 
The third set featured another evenly matched opening stretch as the two teams worked to a 6-6 draw before Pomona-Pitzer scored three straight to make it 9-6. The Sagehens extended their lead to 12-8 with another quick 3-0 run but the Bulldogs managed to stay close until a Kellan Hayes kill followed by a Redlands error forced a Bulldogs timeout with Pomona-Pitzer leading 19-15. The break wasn't enough to slow down the Sagehens as they scored the next three points with kills from Charlotte Sekerka and Corrina Benson and a service from Sophia Lee to go up 22-15. The Sagehens held Redlands to just two more points in the set as Samantha Grabb, Charlotte Sekerka, and Paige Wilson all recorded kills to cap off the 25-17 set three win and complete the 3-0 sweep over Redlands.