By: Illinois College came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to force a fifth set on Friday night, but the Vikings grinded out a 17-15 win in the deciding set.
Box Score APPLETON, Wis. – The Illinois College volleyball team showed the ability to challenge teams at the top of the Midwest Conference on Friday night, but Lawrence University was able to squeak by the Lady Blues in five sets (26-24, 15-25, 25-19, 18-25, 17-15) to send IC to a second straight defeat. Illinois College falls to 8-12 (2-5 MWC) on the year, while the Vikings won their fifth straight and moved to third in the conference standings at 7-16 (6-2 MWC).
Illinois College trailed in the first set by a score of 9-6 before a service error started what would be an eight-point run from the Lady Blues.
Ogechi Uju-Eke and
Lisa Lowry had kills in that stretch of play, but Lawrence committed six errors to help IC along. The Vikings battled back to tie the set at 17-17 and went on to take a 24-22 lead in the set before a kill from Lowry and an ace on serve from
Brooke Brandis brought the Lady Blues level. Late in the set though, the Vikings would score two in a row and take a 1-0 lead with a 26-24 victory.
The second set would be a much different story. A solo block from
Lisa Lowry gave IC a 1-0 lead and the team would never trail. A block from
Courtney Louveau and
Holly Crocher made it 6-2 and forced a timeout from Lawrence, but Louveau and Lowry came out of the timeout with two more kills to make it 8-2. The lead swelled to double-digits for the first time at 17-7 and the Lady Blues waltzed to a 25-15 win that knotted the match at a set apiece.
A combination of solid attacking and an error-prone Lawrence offense allowed Illinois College to take a 10-4 lead in the third set. The Vikings would get hot though, coming back to tie it at 13-13 and then scoring six straight after falling behind again at 15-13. From that point on, the Lady Blues wouldn't get closer than three points and Lawrence re-took the lead in the match at 2-1.
Learning from their mistakes, the Lady Blues came out on fire in the fourth set and never let the Vikings back into it. Illinois College scored 10 of the first 11 points in the fourth before Lawrence used a timeout. Lowry had three kills in that brief span to lift IC into the lead. The Vikings used a quick surge to pull within five points at 11-6, but
Erin Satterlee had the answer on the next point and the Lady Blues pulled away once again to send the match to a fifth and deciding set.
After falling behind by a score of 10-7 in the fifth set and using their first timeout, the Lady Blues ran off five straight points to take a 12-10 lead. Lawrence responded with three straight, but Satterlee tied the score at 13-13 and she and Crocher then combined on a block that gave Illinois College a match point. The Lady Blues very nearly earned the next point on a block attempt, but the Vikings were just able to keep the ball in the air and they went on to earn the point, tying it at 14-14. Lawrence then went ahead, 15-14, to earn its first match point, only to serve the ball into the net and tie the score up one last time at 15-15. With
Allison Perkins on serve, the Lady Blues committed two straight attack errors at the worst possible time, giving the Vikings two straight points and the 3-2 win in the match.
Lowry continued her great play as of late. The reigning MWC Offensive Performer of the Week ended with a match-high 18 kills and added 18 digs. Crocher had 13 kills and was the other member of the Lady Blues to have double-digit kills in the match. Louveau dished out 46 assists and had 20 digs. Brandis and Perkins tied for the team lead with 21 digs.
Illinois College will look to get back on track on Saturday, playing St. Norbert College at 1 p.m. in De Pere, Wis.
