By: IC rallied from a big deficit to win the second set and then bounced back with a strong fourth set after dropping the third.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team maintained its position in the thick of the Midwest Conference standings with a 3-1 (25-21, 28-26, 20-25, 25-15) win over Monmouth College on Wednesday night.
Lisa Lowry led IC with a match-high 18 kills and
Ali Pankey added 17 to help the Lady Blues to the victory. IC is now 13-8 (3-2 MWC) on the season while Monmouth slides to 6-14 (1-4 MWC).
The Lady Blues had very little trouble in the first set. After the match went back-and-forth to 5-5, IC ran off three in a row for an 8-5 lead and soon extended it to 15-7 with
Katie Tonry on serve. Monmouth would manage to pull within three after that, but it came on set point against the Scots and Lowry put away a kill on the fourth attempt to give IC the 1-0 lead.
The second set was much more of a struggle. Though the set started with a 3-0 lead for IC, Monmouth stormed back and led 19-14. With the lead still at three at 21-18, the Lady Blues tied it up with two Pankey kills sandwiching one from
Mikayla Greenwood. The Scots came back with a set point at 25-24, but Greenwood denied that with a kill, and when Monmouth had another, an attack error leveled the score once again at 26-26. IC took the initiative after that with kills from
Maddie Ramsey and a tip from
Rebecca Shields proving to be the difference.
Following a short break in between the second and third sets, the Scots came out and quickly established a five-point lead. The Monmouth lead hovered around there most of the set. When Illinois College pulled within two at 22-20, the Scots scored the next three in a row to make it a 2-1 match with a 25-20 victory.
The fourth set was practically the polar opposite for the Lady Blues. With Tonry serving to start, IC scored the first five points and the lead was still doubled at 16-8 on a Lowry kill midway through the set. After Monmouth made it 17-10, Lowry and Shields had kills and an attack error from the visitors pushed the lead to 20-10. IC was on cruise control from there and an attack error from Monmouth ended it with the Lady Blues winning, 25-15.
Besides the offensive firepower of Lowry and Pankey, Greenwood and Shields each added seven kills on the night for Illinois College. Tonry had three service aces and 18 digs, while
Cheyanne Jockisch tied for match-high honors with 29 digs.
Elizabeth Ganley recorded a double-double with 47 assists and 12 digs, as well as a pair of aces.
Illinois College goes on the road for two matches this weekend, first facing conference leaders Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. The Lady Blues conclude the weekend against Grinnell College on Oct. 15 at 1 p.m.
