By: It was far from easy, but the Lady Blues were able to sweep visiting RMU-Springfield on Wednesday night behind 18 kills from Lisa Lowry and 36 assists from Elizabeth Ganley.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team wasn't clicking on all cylinders on Wednesday, but the Lady Blues had enough in the tank to over Robert Morris University-Springfield in three sets, winning 25-21, 25-22, 25-21.
Lisa Lowry ended with 18 kills in the match and recorded a double-double thanks to 11 digs.
Elizabeth Ganley led all players in the match with 36 assists.
RMU-Springfield entered the night on a three-match winning streak and appeared confident from the start. Illinois College led rarely throughout the first set and still trailed, 19-18, following a service error – one of the nine that the Lady Blues committed on the night. From there IC would rally however, reeling off six straight points for a 24-19 lead. Lowry had two kills in that span and
Madie Budd added an ace. Lowry then closed out the set with her seventh kill to put the Lady Blues ahead, 1-0.
Unlike the first set, Illinois College was ahead much of the way in the second set. However, they never quite put RMU-Springfield away either. The biggest lead that the Lady Blues enjoyed was at 17-13 following a
Rebecca Shields put away. After a timeout from the Eagles, the set would become level at 18-18 on five attacking errors from IC. Fortunately, an error on serve put the Lady Blues back ahead and Lowry had three kills down the stretch to help Illinois College to a 25-22 win.
Illinois College coasted comfortably through much of the third set. After trailing, 5-4, the Lady Blues ran off six straight points to take a 10-5 advantage. Ganley and
Maddie Ramsey each had kills in that stretch and Lowry added an ace. The lead grew as high as six points before RMU-Springfield began to chip away, but the IC edge never went lower than three points and the Lady Blues held on for the sweep.
Illinois College (3-2) stays at home this weekend, welcoming in North Park University and Webster University for a tri-match on Sept. 9. The Lady Blues start the day against North Park at 3:30 p.m. The Vikings then meet Webster University at 5:30 p.m. before IC and Webster close out the day at 7:30 p.m.
