By: Illinois College had 39 kills and only nine attack errors as they swept the Vikings on Saturday morning.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team stayed hot with its seventh straight victory on Saturday, defeating Lawrence University, 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-19), to move to 12-6 (2-0 Midwest Conference) on the season. Five players had at least seven kills for IC in the match and the Lady Blues had 39 kills against only nine attack errors in the win.
The theme throughout the match was Illinois College jumping out to an early lead in each set and then weathering a storm from Lawrence to hang on at the end. In the first set, the Lady Blues led 6-4 then scored four straight with
Maddie Ramsey supplying a kill and a block in that span for a 10-4 lead. The Lady Blues had the lead stretch as high as seven points at 14-7 before the Vikings twice pulled within three points. At 22-19,
MacKenzie Heinz stopped the serve of Sydney Nelson with a kill. On the next point,
Lisa Lowry and
Elizabeth Ganley blocked Arianna Cohen and Lowry had a kill to end the set for a 25-19 victory.
In the second set, Illinois College went ahead early again, 9-3. A push from Lawrence brought the visitors back to within three at 12-9, but a kill from
Ali Pankey and three straight LU attack errors soon had the lead at 16-9. The IC advantage grew to 19-10 and the Lady Blues closed the set out with a Pankey kill and a
Rebecca Shields ace.
In the third and final set, the Lady Blues and Vikings battled closely for awhile, but Illinois College began to assert itself as the set wore on. With a 15-10 lead, IC reeled off four straight points on four LU attack errors. Lawrence pulled within four at 23-19, but its momentum was stopped on a ball-handling error and Lowry ended the match on the next point.
Lowry led all players in the match with nine kills. She added 10 digs and five block assists as well. Shields had seven kills and a match-best .500 hitting percentage. Heinz, Pankey and Ramsey all had seven kills as well. Ganley dished out 34 assists and both
Cheyanne Jockisch and
Brenna Garland had 14 digs.
Illinois College will now go on the road for a pair of MWC matches next weekend. The Lady Blues face Ripon College on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. and close out the trip against St. Norbert College on Oct. 8 at 1 p.m.
