By: The Eagles had more errors than kills on Wednesday night as Illinois College won in three easy sets.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team had no trouble on Wednesday night in a non-conference match against Robert Morris University-Springfield, sweeping the Eagles, 3-0 (25-9, 25-16, 25-7). The Lady Blues move to 7-10 this season after the confidence-building victory before returning to Midwest Conference play this weekend.
RMU-Springfield committed 18 errors in the match versus 11 kills. The Eagles had just one kill in the first set as Illinois College pulled away early on to take the lead in the match. With
Emily Woods on serve, IC scored seven straight points to take a 10-3 lead. Later in the set, another seven-point run extended the advantage to 18-5 and the Lady Blues cruised to a 16-point victory in the opening set.
The second set was a little bit closer. Despite a quick 3-0 start from Illinois College, RMU-Springfield rallied to lead, 12-10, before IC scored five points. The Eagles got back within one at 15-14, before
Kori Hayes keyed a six-point run with two kills and a block. The set ended with a pair of
Maddie Ramsey kills and a Woods service ace.
The third set was close early on before Illinois College blew it wide open. With the Lady Blues leading, 9-5,
Ali Pankey had back-to-back kills. After the Eagles earned a side-out,
MacKenzie Heinz had two kills in rapid succession as IC opened up a 17-6 lead. The final point for RMU-Springfield came on a kill from Jaylyn Manigo. After that it was all Illinois College, with the Lady Blues rattling off the final eight points, including the last two on aces from Pankey to clinch the victory.
Ramsey led Illinois College on the night with eight kills while hitting .400. Pankey added seven kills while Hayes, Heinz and
Mikayla Greenwood all ended with five.
Madie Budd had a team-high eight digs and
Elizabeth Ganley dished out 26 assists. Woods had a match-high four aces.
Illinois College hosts Ripon College in an important MWC match at Sherman Gymnasium on Oct. 6 starting at 7 p.m.
