The Redlands Community College volleyball team fought through the effects of a long road trip to Texas recently to defeat Vernon College in three games, 30-26/30-28-31-29.

“We feel lucky to get the win,” Redlands coach Kristin Vincent said.

“This was our first big road trip of the year and we did not step off the bus ready to play. I blame myself for that. We did squeak out the win, but we are going to have to do a better job of getting ready to play on the road.”

Vincent hopes her team gained preparedness from the close win, especially since the Cougars will be on the road until Sept. 25. Redlands plays this weekend in Gainesville, Texas, at the North Central Texas College Invitational and at Seminole State College on Tuesday. The team will have two days rest before a 10-hour trip back to the Lone Star State and the Galveston Invitational.

“I hope the Vernon match was a learning experience and we don’t show up again like we did,” Vincent said.

“I think as a group we are starting to learn what it takes to win on the road and hopefully that will carry over into the coming week.”
Redlands hit a dismal .093 against Vernon, committing 26 hitting errors. Mari Araujo led the squad in kills with 13, followed by Georgia Aplon with 12.

They were the only Cougars in double digits as Mari Cruz had five kills and Carol Petukauskaus added four.

Katie Baum led all setters with 32 assists.

The Cougars scored over 10 points from the serving line, with Cruz having five aces. Araujo and RoShell Oliphant had two aces each.

The net defense was paced by Petukauskaus with three solo blocks and one assist. Kyla Pinkston and Cruz had one solo block each and six combined blocks.

Oliphant dug up a team-high 17 kill attempts by Vernon, while Araujo added 13. Baum logged nine digs, followed by Cruz with eight and seven by Aplon.