By: Ahead 2-1 entering the fourth set, the Lady Blues dominated the closing stages and evened their MWC record against the Scots on Wednesday night.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – A critical third set swung the momentum in favor of the Illinois College volleyball team on Wednesday night at Sherman Gymnasium and the Lady Blues used it to win the fourth set convincingly and earn a 3-1 win (25-18, 14-25, 28-26, 25-14) over Monmouth. IC improves to 6-12 (3-3 Midwest Conference) with the victory.
The first set was in favor of Illinois College nearly the entire way. Monmouth was able to force one last tie at 8-8, but
Erin Washington delivered one of her nine kills and
Holly Crocher had a part in two consecutive blocks to give the Lady Blues an 11-8 edge. With the lead holding steady at 15-12, Washington had two more kills as well as a block assist with
Lisa Lowry to push Illinois College out to a 19-12 advantage. The Scots could get no closer than four after that and Lowry had the final nail in the coffin as the Lady Blues went up, 1-0.
Things went south for Illinois College immediately in the second set, with the Scots scoring the first four points before Crocher could end the rally. Though the Lady Blues tried to keep up, Monmouth held a commanding lead much of the way and scored five straight to turn a 19-13 lead into a 24-13 match point. Moments later, the Scots had the match tied at a set apiece.
Monmouth took another 4-1 lead in the third set, but Illinois College answered the challenge this time. Two kills from
Mikayla Greenwood sandwiched one from Crocher to tie the score for the first time at 5-5. IC actually went on to lead by four on two occasions, but the Scots had a response for each one. Monmouth's Quincy Merritt had one of her match-high 16 kills to give her team a match point at 26-25, but Illinois College retaliated with a Crocher kill to tie it, a Monmouth error to take the lead and a service ace – one of her six on the night – from
Erin Satterlee to take a 28-26 decision.
The opening two points of the fourth set actually went to the Scots, but the Lady Blues dominated the rest of the way. IC turned a 3-1 deficit into a 7-3 lead before Monmouth cut the lead back to one at 7-6. From there, the Lady Blues reeled off eight of the next nine points to take control with a 15-7 edge. Lowry slammed the door a final time with the last two points of the night in a 25-14 victory.
Crocher had a team-high 12 kills and a .276 hitting percentage in the match. Greenwood matched Washington with nine kills. Lowry had a solid all-around evening with 22 assists to go with eight kills and nine digs.
Defensively,
Maurissa Moulton led the way with 22 digs.
Courtney Louveau had a double-double with 20 assists and 19 digs, while
Allison Perkins added another 15 digs.
Illinois College is back home on Friday night to entertain Lawrence University in a match beginning at 7 p.m.
