By: The height of the Foresters caused all kinds of problems for Illinois College on Saturday, with Lake Forest recording a total of 18 blocks in the match.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team came in to Saturday's home match with Lake Forest riding high after two Midwest Conference victories earlier this week over Monmouth and Beloit. Things were looking even better after a narrow first-set victory over the Foresters, but the height of the visitors eventually was at the core of a 3-1 Lake Forest win (23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-21). The Lady Blues fall to 8-11 (2-4 MWC) with the loss.
After establishing a lead early on in the first set, Illinois College showed its resiliency by sticking with it after numerous Lake Forest runs. The Lady Blues led 9-5 and the Foresters came back to tie it. Later on, the lead was 15-10 for IC and a five-point swing knotted the set at 15-15. On a third occasion, a 21-16 lead dissolved into a 21-21 tie. Knotted at 22-22, a
Holly Crocher kill broke the deadlock and the Lady Blues held on from there to take a 1-0 lead.
Trailing by five points in the second set as late as 19-14, this time it was Illinois College's turn to storm back into the set. A five-point run turned a 20-16 deficit into a 21-20 lead momentarily, but the Foresters were able to score four straight from there to grab a late three-point lead and survive to tie the match at 1-1.
As the third set progressed, IC was able to fight back into it after trailing by a score of 16-13. A pair of kills from
Courtney Louveau and an ace from
Lisa Lowry helped the Lady Blues to take a 17-16 advantage on Lake Forest. Still up a point at 20-19, Illinois College fell behind after a three-point run from the Foresters and an attack error from IC on set point allowed LFC to escape with a 25-23 win.
Looking to put the match away, Lake Forest scored six straight to take a 13-7 edge on the Lady Blues, but IC refused to go quietly. Consecutive kills from
Rebecca Shields lifted Illinois College back into the set and a six-point run from the Lady Blues eventually put them in the lead at 16-15. After two consecutive aces from Shields the lead was up to 20-18, but the Foresters would score seven of the last eight points to get the set and the match.
Illinois College played well in defeat, but couldn't overcome the huge advantage that Lake Forest had at the net. The Foresters ended with an 18-2 edge in blocks in the match, led by Brittany Avonts three solo blocks and eight block assists.
For the Lady Blues, Lowry had a team-high 13 kills and a pair of aces. Crocher added 10 kills as well. For the second match running, Louveau and
Eve Bahler each had double-doubles. Louveau ended with 20 assists and 16 digs while Bahler had 14 assists and 10 digs.
Allison Perkins continued her strong defensive work in the back row with 22 digs.
Illinois College will look to right the ship this weekend on the road for two MWC matches, first trekking to Lawrence University to meet the Vikings on Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.
