By: Tied at 1-1 through two sets, Illinois College picked up the tempo and defeated Beloit in four sets on Friday night.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team defeated Beloit College in four sets on Friday night (25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 25-19) thanks to a huge offensive performance from
Lisa Lowry. Lowry set a career high with 22 kills – including 10 in a critical third-set win – to help the Lady Blues pick up the victory. IC improves to 8-10 (2-3 Midwest Conference) and drops Beloit to 4-14 (0-5 MWC).
The first set made it seem like it would be an easy night for Illinois College. With three Lowry kills accompanying three Beloit attack errors, the Lady Blues went up 9-2 early on. The lead would reach double-digits and remain there until a late Buccaneer rally. Down 24-13, Beloit reeled off six straight points to make the set closer than it really was.
Holly Crocher finally put it away with a kill and a 25-19 victory to start off the match.
The second set went downhill for Illinois College. Ahead 14-9, the Lady Blues allowed five straight Beloit points to tie it at 14-14. Another run of four points put the Buccaneers ahead, 19-16, and forced IC to use its first timeout of the match. The break in action failed to stem the tide and Beloit would go up 24-17 and close within one point of tying the match. Though the Lady Blues ripped off five points in a row to close within two, the Buccaneers were able to hold on and level the match with a 25-22 win.
In the third set, a 4-0 Illinois College lead evaporated as Beloit scored 11 of the next 12 points to take an 11-5 lead. The Lady Blues didn't give up though, coming back to tie the set at 13-13. With the score still level at 18-18 following a
Mikayla Greenwood kill, Lowry put the Lady Blues back ahead and then had another kill following a Beloit attack error to make it 21-18. The Buccaneers would pull within a single point, but Crocher had a vital kill late in the set to make it 24-22 and
Erin Satterlee scored the final point off an assist from
Eve Bahler to put IC back up in the match, 2-1.
The fourth set swayed back and forth all the way to 19-18. With the Lady Blues up a point, a Beloit service error opened the door for a run of five points from Illinois College, making it 24-18.
Courtney Louveau, Crocher and Greenwood all had kills in that span. Greenwood would also score the clinching point off of a Louveau assist to end the match and give IC the victory.
Setters Bahler and Louveau each had double-doubles on the night. Bahler ended with 23 assists and 11 digs while Louveau had 20 assists and 13 digs.
Allison Perkins ended with a match-high 24 digs, upping her MWC-leading digs total to 5.28 per set. Satterlee had 11 kills in the match and Crocher ended with 10.
Illinois College is back home again tomorrow, meeting Lake Forest College at 4 p.m. at Sherman Gymnasium.
