Photo by Shira Oneal-Abend

Story by Sebastián Abdón Ibarra, Sports Information Student Assistant

LA VERNE, CA — The University of La Verne volleyball team defeated the University of Redlands Bulldogs for their second win in as many days on Saturday night. The Leos won comfortably in straight sets.

Set Scores: 25-17, 25-15, 25-21

Don't look now, but the Leos (7-8, 3-5 SCIAC) have won three of their last four games. They are one win away from their best five-game stretch since the beginning of the season where they lost their season opener but then proceeded to win four straight.

"I think we're just working hard, we're not making as many errors as we were in the past. Just starting to feel our lineup a little bit and really getting better at playing with each other," University of La Verne volleyball head coach Jeff Hendershot said.

Ayana Mier continued where she left off last night with 16 more kills and a .316 kill percentage. Kari Esseff was second on the team with eight kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Ha'ani Untalan added seven kills and was tied for second on the team in digs with 12.

Emily Heldenbrand had twice as many assists as the next closest person with 32 and added 12 digs as well. Jasmine Chandler single-handedly blocked more attacks than the entire Redlands team with six total blocks.

La Verne cruised through the first two sets of the match with a nine-point average margin of victory. After Redlands (2-11, 0-7 SCIAC) held a slim advantage early in the third set, the Leos came back aided by a few miscues from the Bulldogs. An attack error from Redlands tied the set at 19 and a service error gave the Leopards a 21-20 lead that they would not relinquish. Chandler's final block of the match sealed the win for the Leos 25-21.

La Verne's defense completely shut down Redland's offense. The Bulldogs were only able to manage a .008 hitting percentage as a team. Makayla Sorenson and Angelina Hughes were the leading scorers for Redlands with five kills each.

The Leos will have to overcome a tough opponent to continue their climb back up the SCIAC standings as they take on No. 2 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday at 7:00 pm at Roberts Pavilion in Claremont.

"Our goal is to make the conference tournament. For us to do that we probably need to go 5-3 or 6-2 in the second half which will be a challenge but it's something our team can do when we are playing at the level that we should be," Hendershot said.