By: Though competitive most of the way, Illinois College suffered a 3-0 defeat to Missouri Valley College and a 3-1 loss to Wisconsin Lutheran College on Friday.
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Box Score 2 JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team fell twice on Friday inside Sherman Gymnasium. The Lady Blues lost a three-set match to Missouri Valley College in the opener and fell to Wisconsin Lutheran in four sets in the nightcap. Now 3-6, IC will try to right the ship on Saturday when it faces Olivet College at 10 a.m. and Concordia University (Chicago) at 2 p.m.
Missouri Valley 3, Illinois College 0
(21-25, 22-25, 15-25)A towering Missouri Valley squad got the win to improve to 13-3 on the season in the day's first match. The Vikings had a total of 11 blocks to just one for Illinois College, making life difficult on IC's hitters. The Lady Blues had 28 kills, but that was nearly equaled by their 27 attack errors. For the match, Illinois College had a hitting percentage of only .008.
Early on in the match, the Lady Blues had battled back from a three-point deficit to tie the first set at 10-10. Missouri Valley was able to rally right back however, rattling off six points in a row to take command of the set. The lead would grow to 20-11 before IC answered with five straight of its own but errors plagued the Lady Blues in the late stages and the Vikings escaped to take a 1-0 lead.
Illinois College came out fired up in the second set and established an 8-2 that forced a timeout from the Missouri Valley bench. The break in the action did the Vikings good. They would come back to tie it at 12-12 and grow their lead to 16-13. A kill from
Courtney Louveau and a MV attack error knotted the set at 22-22, but the final three points went to Missouri Valley to make it a 2-0 match.
Things unraveled for IC in the third as the Lady Blues went behind 7-1 to open the set. A solid passage of play brought them back to within 10-7, but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the way.
Holly Crocher was the offensive bright spot for Illinois College, nailing 11 kills with a .429 hitting percentage. Louveau added nine kills and nearly had a triple-double with 14 assists and 10 digs.
Allison Perkins had a match-high 21 digs.
Wisconsin Lutheran 3, Illinois College 1
(21-25, 26-24, 22-25, 20-25)Long rallies were the name of the game in Illinois College's second match. IC and Wisconsin Lutheran combined for 236 digs in the four set, with the Warriors doing just enough to eke out a win.
Lisa Lowry came back strong to lead the Lady Blues attack with 16 kills and 13 digs, while Crocher had her second double-figure kills match of the night with 10.
It was a choppy beginning for IC in the first set. The Lady Blues had eight kills against eight attack errors in the match, giving the Warriors numerous free points. Wiscosin Lutheran jumped out to a 7-2 lead and it grew to 20-12 in the middle of the set. A four-point rally on the serve of
Rebecca Shields helped close the gap, but WLC held on in the end to take an early lead.
It was a much better effort from Illinois College in the second set. The lead went back and forth the whole way, but kills from
Mikayla Greenwood and Louveau had IC on the precipice of a win, ahead 24-20. Wisconsin Lutheran stormed back with four straight to tie it at 24-24, but Lowry delivered consecutive kills to put it away and tie the match up at a set apiece.
Unfortunately the momentum wouldn't carry over. The Lady Blues found themselves ahead, 19-15, late in the third set, but the Warriors scored 10 of the final 13 points to stun IC and take a 2-1 lead. Illinois College then trailed early on in the fourth set and hung close, but could never fully make up the deficit.
Louveau had her second double-double of the match with 29 assists and 22 digs.
Eve Bahler had 10 assists and 18 digs for a double-double as well. Perkins had 20 digs, while
Brenna Garland added 18.
