By: The tide turned against Illinois College after the Lady Blues lost the second set to Fontbonne by a score of 32-30.
Box Score
SAINT LOUIS, Mo. – The Illinois College volleyball team fell to Fontbonne University on Friday night in the final match of the 2016 season, losing 3-1 (25-22, 30-32, 12-25, 22-25) to the Griffins. On Senior Night, Fontbonne improved to 11-15, while IC closes out with a record of 15-12.
The match got off to a good start for Illinois College in the first set. Back and forth for much of the way, IC reeled off six straight points late in the set to turn a 17-16 lead into a 23-16 advantage.
Katie Tonry had two aces in that stretch. Fontbonne battled back to make it 23-21, but the Lady Blues closed it out with a
Lisa Lowry kill and an attack error by the Griffins.
The momentum swung to Fontbonne after the Griffins outlasted IC in a marathon 32-30 second set. Fontbonne led early, 8-6, but the Lady Blues notched seven straight points – including two kills each from
Maddie Ramsey and
Rebecca Shields – to take a 13-8 lead. Next it was Fontbonne's turn to rally. From trailing 15-11, the Griffins scored nine out of 10 points to go on top, 20-16. Down 24-22, Illinois College used kills from
MacKenzie Heinz and Shields to go up 25-24. The Lady Blues would end up with three set points, but the Griffins fought off each one and had two successive kills after the set was tied up at 30-30 to level it at a set apiece.
The Lady Blues never really recovered after that. Fontbonne went ahead, 15-4 early in the third set and took a 2-1 lead in the match with an emphatic 25-12 victory.
In the fourth set, consecutive kills by Heinz gave IC an 8-5 lead but the Griffins recovered to go on top, 11-9. After trailing most of the way, kills from Shields and Heinz made it 20-20, but four of the next five points went to Fontbonne and the Griffins closed it out on a Megan McKenzie kill.
In her final match for Illinois College,
Lisa Lowry had 17 kills and a team-best .359 hitting percentage. She also had 12 digs to end up with a double-double on the night.
Ali Pankey ended with 11 kills and Ramsey had 10.
Elizabeth Ganley ended with a double-double of 44 assists and 18 digs.
Cheyanne Jockisch had a match-high 24 digs for the Lady Blues.
Despite the loss in their final match, the Lady Blues posted a 15-12 record for their first winning season since 2005. The 15 wins this season were the most since the 2006 Illinois College team won 16 times.
