By: Illinois College won its 14th game of the season on Saturday, clinching a winning record for the first time since 2005.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team made sure that Senior Day 2016 was one to remember for graduating seniors
Courtney Louveau,
Lisa Lowry and
Katie Tonry. With a 3-1 win over Beloit College (25-22, 25-9, 23-25, 25-13), the Lady Blues clinched their first winning record since the 2005 season. IC is now 14-11 (4-5 MWC) on the season, while Beloit fell to 9-13 (0-7 MWC).
The Lady Blues didn't get off to a fast start, falling behind Beloit from the get-go and trailing late in the set by a score of 19-14. Coming out of a timeout, IC scored three straight to make it 19-17 before Beloit earned a side-out. After that, IC ran off five straight, with
Maddie Ramsey supplying a kill and a pair of blocks along the way. The Buccaneers twice got within a point, but the score 23-22, the Lady Blues closed it out on kills from Lowry and
Rebecca Shields.
The second set didn't have the same amount of drama. Illinois College had 14 kills on 29 total attacks without an error, good for a .483 hitting percentage. The last tie came at 2-2 and a Beloit service error gave IC a lead they would never give back. With the score 18-9, the Lady Blues tallied seven points in a row to end it, the last four of which came on Buccaneer errors to make it 2-0.
Beloit rallied back in the third set, squeaking past Illinois College after an IC run almost gave the Lady Blues a sweep. The Buccaneers scored four in a row to take a 19-14 lead and forced a timeout from the Illinois College bench, but after the break, IC rallied back to tie it at 23-23 on the serve of
Cheyanne Jockisch. With the match slipping away, Beloit got a break after the referees spotted a setting error on
Elizabeth Ganley and the Buccaneer blockers denied Shields at the net to end the set at 25-23.
Illinois College would end it in the fourth set, scoring five in a row to take a 7-3 lead and forcing an early timeout from the Buccaneers. The IC edge reached double-digits for the first time at 16-6 on a Jockisch ace and the closest Beloit would get after that was seven. Leading 23-13, Illinois College ended it with an
Ali Pankey kill and a block from Pankey and Louveau to close it out.
Lowry notched 14 kills on the day to surpass 900 for her career. Pankey also had 14.
MacKenzie Heinz had eight kills and a team-best .438 hitting percentage and Shields added eight kills as well. In her final home match, Louveau had a double-double with 27 assists and 13 digs. Tonry also had 13 digs, while Jockisch led all players in the match with 27 digs.
Illinois College closes out the 2016 season with two non-conference road matches, the first of which happens across town at MacMurray College on Oct. 26. The Lady Blues will face the Highlanders for the second time this season in the annual Serve, Set and Rally for a Cure match benefitting the Mia Ware Foundation. The match at Bill Wall Gymnasium is slated for 7 p.m.
