By: After four straight five-set matches, Illinois College gladly took the easy three-set victory over Blackburn on Wednesday night.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team celebrated Senior Night with a 3-0 win over Blackburn College (25-18, 25-10, 25-23) on Wednesday night. Before the match, team manager Danielle Hauch and outside hitter
Mikayla Greenwood were honored for their time with the Lady Blues. With the victory, IC improves to 10-13 this season and makes it three years in a row with double-digit victories for the first time since 2004-06.
Illinois College had a fairly easy time in the first set once the Lady Blues got out of their own way. IC gifted Blackburn eight points on attack errors, but also was able to score five straight points midway through the set for a 13-7 lead. With the score 23-18,
Rebecca Shields earned Illinois College a set point and then took a 1-0 lead in the match when Kaitlyn Wiegand committed an attack error to bring the first set to a close.
The second set was never in doubt, as Illinois College hit .414 as a team while Blackburn hit -.038. The final lead for the Beavers came at 3-2, but the Lady Blues then rattled off seven straight points, including three kills from
Maddie Ramsey. Blackburn never got closer than five points after that, and with the score 18-10, IC notched the final seven points of the set. Three of those points came from Ramsey and
Ali Pankey, while the other four came on Blackburn attack errors.
Blackburn hit at a higher clip than Illinois College in the final set, but the Lady Blues turned it on when it mattered most to get the sweep. A
Kori Hayes kill in the middle of the set put IC ahead, 16-13, but the Beavers would rally to score five straight and take a two-point lead. With Blackburn still out in front, 22-21, Illinois College used a timeout and then came out of the break with three straight points. Shields had a kill to tie the set at 22-22 and later had an ace to earn a match point at 24-22. Blackburn would delay the victory for one point, but with the score 24-23, Ramsey put it away with her match-high 12th kill.
Elizabeth Ganley had 36 assists and a match-high 14 digs. Pankey contributed 11 kills and nine digs on the night. Shields ended with seven kills and two aces, while Greenwood had seven kills, 10 digs, two block assists and a match-high three aces.
Illinois College faces two must-win Midwest Conference matches on the road this weekend. First up is a 7 p.m. match against Lake Forest College on Oct. 20.
