By: Down 2-0 in the match, Illinois College forced a fifth set against Cornell before falling to the Rams.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team took Midwest Conference power Cornell College to the limit on Friday night before falling to the Rams in five sets (11-25, 19-25, 25-18, 27-25, 9-15). The win clinches the MWC regular season title for Cornell for a sixth straight season as the Rams improved to 19-5 (7-0 MWC). Illinois College fell to 9-12 (3-3 MWC).
Early on, Cornell looked absolutely overpowering. The Lady Blues were no match for the visitors in the first set. With the score 7-7, the Rams scored 10 of the next 11 points to take a commanding lead en route to a 25-11 win. Illinois College didn't help its cause by hitting -.125 in the set.
The second set was an improvement for IC, but a 5-2 lead disappeared in a six-point spurt as Cornell went up, 8-5. An
Ali Pankey kill made it 10-9 in favor of the Rams, but Cornell then proceeded to score seven straight points to build a comfortable margin. The Lady Blues wouldn't get closer than four points after that as the Rams went up in the match, 2-0.
Cornell was on top, 7-5, in the third set when Illinois College had to use a timeout when Pankey broke a shoelace. Somehow, that shifted the momentum of the match. Out of the stoppage, IC scored seven straight – six in a row with
Kori Hayes serving – to go up, 12-7. A
Rebecca Shields ace and an error pushed the lead to 20-11. Pankey closed out the set with a kill to send it to a fourth with a 25-18 win.
The fourth set was a back-and-forth battle throughout. Illinois College took an 11-7 lead in the early going but Cornell fought back and tied it up at 14-14. Three kills by Shields and Pankey staked IC to a 21-18 advantage, but the Rams then scored three straight for a 21-21 deadlock. The Rams had a match point at 24-23 and again at 25-24, but the Lady Blues tied the match on a Diamond Boyd attack error. Pankey gave the lead back to Illinois College at 26-25, then out of a timeout the set was brought to a close by a bad set from Jillian Schulte to square the match at 2-2.
Cornell got off to a fast start in the final set, racing out to a 7-1 lead. Kills by Shields and Hayes brought IC to within 7-3, but the teams switched sides of the court with the Rams up, 8-3. With the score 11-5, Cornell committed three straight attack errors to give the Lady Blues life. With the score 12-9, the Rams benefitted from two Illinois College attack errors and brought the match to a close on a kill from Boyd.
Pankey was the lone Illinois College player to end the night with double-digit kills. She had a double-double with 17 kills as well as a team-best 21 digs.
Elizabeth Ganley had 40 assists and 16 digs as well. Hayes ended with eight kills, 13 digs and two aces.
Maddie Ramsey added in eight kills and two solo blocks.
MWC play continues tomorrow for Illinois College with a 1 p.m. match at home against Grinnell College.
