By: No more than four points separated the Lady Blues and Vikings in any set, but Lawrence did enough to come away with the win on Saturday afternoon.
Box Score
APPLETON, Wis. – The Illinois College volleyball team and Lawrence University played four close sets on Saturday afternoon, but the Vikings withstood the challenge of the Lady Blues and saddled IC with a 3-1 defeat (21-25, 21-25, 25-22, 24-26). Illinois College drops to 6-10 (1-1 Midwest Conference) while LU improves to 6-12 (1-1 MWC).
In the first set, Lawrence came out strong and took a 10-5 lead that forced a timeout from Illinois College. The Lady Blues responded well and closed within a single point at 16-15 before the Vikings reeled off three straight to pad their lead. From 19-15 on, the two teams traded side-outs until LU had a 25-21 opening-set victory.
The second set was competitive much of the way until a late Lawrence run. The teams traded the lead back and forth until the set was tied up, 18-18. At that point, the Vikings scored five straight, including two aces, to take a 23-18 advantage. The Lady Blues closed to within 24-21 before LU put it away.
Illinois College announced that it wasn't going away quietly in the third set with a massive run. With the score at 5-5, Illinois College got back on serve following an error from Lauren Ray. Ahead 6-5,
Emily Woods served until the Lady Blues were ahead, 16-5. Woods had two aces along the way. Lawrence made a run of its own, closing to within 23-22 after trailing 22-12. In the closing stages of the set, Mackenzie Heinz had a kill to earn a set point and then LU committed an attack error to give IC life.
The Lady Blues took a couple of three-point leads early on in the fourth set, but Lawrence came back strong with a five-point run to take the lead for good at 11-9. The Lady Blues would close within a single point on three occasions before showing their resiliency by staving off three match points to tie the set at 24-24. Just when it looked like IC might force a fifth and decisive set, Arianna Neumeyer slammed down her 11th kill of the match and then combined with a Viking teammate for the match-clinching block.
Arianna Cohen led all players in the match with 19 kills.
Ali Pankey had a team-high 15 kills for the Lady Blues while
Kori Hayes added 11. Pankey made it a double-double with 18 digs, as did Hayes with 10 digs.
Elizabeth Ganley posted 43 assists and a team-high 25 digs.
Madie Budd added 22 digs as well for IC.
Illinois College returns home for three matches in the next week, starting on Oct. 4 with a 7 p.m. home match against RMU-Springfield.
