By: A tough three-match road trip to start Midwest Conference play had a difficult end for the Lady Blues, who lost in three sets to Ripon College on Saturday.
Box Score RIPON, Wis. – The Illinois College volleyball team ended a rough stretch of three road matches in four days with a 3-0 loss to Ripon College on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Blues fell 19-25, 14-25, 23-25 to move to 6-10 (0-3 Midwest Conference) on the season.
The leader both offensively and defensively for the Lady Blues in the match was
Holly Crocher. The senior middle blocker had a team-high 10 kills and had six block assists on top of it.
Lisa Lowry added six kills in the match for IC.
The first set was a tight battle all the way to 15-15, until Ripon, helped along by a pair of aces, extended out to a 19-15 lead. A kill from Crocher stemmed the tide momentarily, but 19-16 would be the closest that the Lady Blues would get the rest of the set.
After a brief 3-2 lead in the second set off of a Lowry kill from
Eve Bahler, Ripon again went on a run and took a 7-3 lead.
Courtney Louveau brought Illinois College back to three, but again the three-point cushion from Ripon would hold up and eventually be extended. Another long run made the set turn from a 16-11 lead for the Red Hawks to a 21-11 lead and the home side cruised from there.
Crocher and
Ogechi Uju-Eke combined for a block early in the third set that made it 6-5 in favor of Ripon, but soon the Red Hawks had established another healthy working margin. Late in the set, the Lady Blues made a run. A Ripon kill made it 24-20 and the Red Hawks had a number of match points to work with. Two Crocher kills were combined with a Ripon attack error to make it 24-23 before the Red Hawks were able to block away IC's attempt to tie it and end the match.
Louveau and
Mikayla Greenwood each helped the offense along with five kills in the match. Louveau added 11 assists and nine digs, while Bahler had a double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs.
Illinois College hopes a return to the friendly confines of Sherman Gymnasium can get the Lady Blues back to their winning ways. IC will host Monmouth College on Oct. 6 starting at 7 p.m.
