By: The IC volleyball team fended off four match points in overcoming North Park in Friday’s opener, then did away with Webster in four tight sets.
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JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team improved its record to 5-2 in stunning fashion on Friday, rallying to defeat North Park University in the first of two matches on the day after being down match point on four occasions. Later in the evening, the Lady Blues broke a 1-1 deadlock with Webster University to down the Gorloks in four sets.
Illinois College will have a full week off from competition before traveling to Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. for the Augustana Viking Classic. The Lady Blues will meet the hosts on Sept. 16 at 5:30 p.m. and Marian University at 7:30 p.m. On Sept. 17, IC will play Wisconsin Lutheran College at 10 a.m. and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville at 2 p.m.
Illinois College 3, North Park 2
(25-16, 23-25, 25-19, 12-25, 17-15)
The entire match between Illinois College and North Park featured wild momentum swings, so it's no surprise that the fifth set played out in the same manner. After an ugly fourth-set loss that evened the match at 2-2, the Lady Blues came out firing in the fifth set, gave the lead away and then roared back to snatch victory away from the Vikings.
Lisa Lowry would end with a match-high 21 kills and she got started with four in the first set to help put IC ahead with a 25-16 victory. The set was 16-15 in favor of the Lady Blues, but they scored nine of the last 10 points as North Park committed seven attack errors late.
The chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead slipped away from Illinois College in the second set as North Park notched the final two points of the set after it was tied at 23-23.
IC went down 3-1 in the third, but then pulled ahead to a comfy 12-6 advantage after a
Rebecca Shields ace halfway through the set. The lead peaked at seven later in the set and the Lady Blues had as much of a margin as they would need to coast to a 2-1 lead.
The Lady Blues took a 4-1 lead in the fourth, but things quickly went south. North Park grew its lead to as high as 19-8 on the serve of Kajsa Meyer and forced a fifth and deciding set with IC.
In the final set, a fast start put Illinois College ahead by a score of 6-1.
MacKenzie Heinz had three kills in that time. The Vikings would find their rhythm on the offensive end and rally to take a 10-9 lead on consecutive kills by Lauren Wiltsie. Shields tied the match at 10-10, but four of the next five points belonged to North Park to give them match point at 14-11. Rather than play conservative, the Lady Blues got aggressive. Big swings and kills from
Ali Pankey sandwiched a Heinz kill to square the score at 14-14. The Vikings would earn a side-out and have one more match point, but a service error left the score tied again at 15-15. On the serve of
Brooke Brandis, an ace and a kill from Heinz gave the Lady Blues the stunning victory.
Lowry ended with a double-double, adding 12 digs to her 21 kills. Heinz was the other player with double-figure kills, ending with 10.
Elizabeth Ganley supplied a double-double with 43 assists and 12 digs, while
Madie Budd had 24 digs in the match.
Illinois College 3, Webster 1
(25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20)
The final match of the day was shorter than the previous one, but no less dramatic. There was little to separate Illinois College and Webster, but the Lady Blues made big plays down the stretch in three of the four sets to earn a 3-1 victory.
IC held a solid 16-11 lead midway through the first set, but Webster would rally to take a 22-20 lead. After consecutive errors from the Gorloks, Shields smacked back-to-back kills to give the Lady Blues a 24-22 lead. Lowry then ended the set with a kill for a 1-0 lead.
The second set was also very back-and-forth, but the Gorloks came away with the win this time around, outscoring the Lady Blues 10-6 down the stretch to turn a 16-15 deficit into a 25-22 victory to even the match at 1-1.
The third set got off to a rough start for IC. The Lady Blues went down 5-0, but a kill from Pankey helped turn the tide and five straight points evened the set at 5-5. Webster re-established a four-point lead later in the set, but a timeout from the Lady Blues settled the nerves and got them three quick points to pull back within one. With the score tied at 21-21, Lowry and
Maddie Ramsey had two straight kills and Ramsey added another one moments later. An attack error from Samantha Budrovich ended the set with IC pulling out a 25-23 decision.
In the fourth set, Illinois College came out hot with a 9-3 lead. Three errors from Webster would grow the advantage to 12-4, but the Gorloks had one last push in them. Webster trimmed the IC lead to 23-20 late in the set, but a
Mikayla Greenwood kill and an ace from
Katie Tonry ended the set and the match to give IC the win.
Lowry and Pankey each ended with a match-high 14 kills, while Shields added 13. Ganley ended with another double-double, this time dishing out an impressive 56 assists along with 22 digs. Budd added 16 digs and Brandis had 11.
