Volleyball Shows Grit in a Pair of Defeats

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The growing process for the young Illinois College volleyball team continued on Saturday, as the Lady Blues gave it their all in a pair of matches at Sherman Gymnasium. IC showed determination in taking Principia College to four sets and Missouri Valley College to five, but the visitors were each able to come away with a victory.

Now 2-9, Illinois College continues non-conference play on Wednesday night with a road match at Blackburn College beginning at 7 p.m.

Principia 3, Illinois College 1
It was simply the Tess Rountree Show for the Panthers in the first match of the day. Rountree ended with 35 kills in the match – more than half her team's total – and hit .366 with 18 digs to almost single-handedly give Principia the win.

Illinois College took the first set, 25-22, as the team was able to come out hot early and take a 10-4 lead. Behind Rountree, Principia came back to tie the set at 22-all, but Holly Crocher gave IC the lead back for good with a kill. Erin Satterlee followed with an ace and Crocher and Mikayla Greenwood combined for the set-winning block.

After that, IC spent most of the rest of the match in catch-up mode. Principia won the final three sets by scores of 25-18, 25-20 and 25-15. 

Crocher had a team-high nine kills for Illinois College. Courtney Louveau (17 assists, 11 digs) and Lisa Lowry (14 assists, 21 digs) each had double-doubles, while Maurissa Moulton added 21 digs.

Missouri Valley 3, Illinois College 2
Illinois College came tantalizingly close to finishing off a comeback in the finale. Down 1-0 and 2-1 in the match, the Lady Blues forced a deciding fifth set and roared back from a six-point deficit to tie the final set late before falling.

Missouri Valley pulled away at the midpoint of the first set to take a 25-22 decision, but IC answered in the second set with a 25-21 win that wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicates. The Vikings got their revenge in the third set with a 25-14 trouncing.

IC trailed, 3-0, early on the fourth set but showed resiliency to storm back into it. Twenty-five points wasn't enough to determine a winner and the teams played on. Finally, Erin Washington hammered home kills from Lowry on consecutive points and forced a final set with a 27-25 win.

The fifth set began one-sided with Missouri Valley taking a 12-6 lead. Following a timeout, IC came back at the Vikings by scoring seven of the next eight points to knot the score at 13-13. Unfortunately for the Lady Blues, the final two points and the match went to MVC.

Washington led IC with nine kills in the afternoon. Lowry again notched a double-double with 16 assists and 12 digs, while Moulton led the Lady Blues with 23 digs. Crocher was a force in front, denying the Vikings with two solo blocks and six block assists.