By: After a disheartening five-set loss to Concordia (Chicago) to start the day, Illinois College recovered and claimed a sweep of Olivet to end a six-match losing streak.
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JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team put an end to a six-match losing streak in the second half of a doubleheader on Friday, sweeping Olivet College after earlier losing a five-set heartbreaker to Concordia University (Chicago). The Lady Blues are now 4-7 on the season.
Tomorrow's action starts at 10 a.m. with Illinois College meeting Franklin College. Later in the day, the Lady Blues will face St. Mary's College (Ind.) at 2 p.m.
Game One: Concordia (Chicago) 3, Illinois College 2
(25-14, 25-11, 21-25, 24-26, 11-25)
Despite a career-high 21 kills from
Ali Pankey, Concordia University (Chicago) rallied out of a 2-0 deficit to beat Illinois College in five closely-contested sets on Friday afternoon.
Rebecca Shields added 18 kills on a match-high .250 hitting percentage.
The first two sets seemingly came from an entirely different match. While the final three sets would be down to the wire, Illinois College came out firing and quickly took a big lead. Concordia (Chicago) led in the first set, 4-1, before the Lady Blues rattled off five straight points and never looked back.
In the second set, IC was on top, 8-6, then scored 10 of the next 11 points, including two aces from
Cheyanne Jockisch. The closest the Cougars came from there was at 20-11, but the Lady Blues closed the set out by notching the final five points, two of which came from Pankey while the final point belonged to
Maddie Ramsey on a solo block.
When Illinois College opened the third set by scoring the first three points, it looked like the Lady Blues would cruise to the sweep. Concordia (Chicago) had other ideas in mind however. After the Cougars battled back to take the lead, they then scored six straight to go up, 19-11. The Lady Blues refused to go quietly and closed within two points twice before CUC put it away.
The Cougars pulled ahead again in the fourth set, going up 18-14. After Pankey got the Lady Blues back on serve,
MacKenzie Heinz aced the Cougars, who then committed three straight attack errors to give Illinois College a narrow 19-18 advantage. In the closing stages of the set, Jaylynn Johnson first had a kill, then teamed with Shannon Stamp for a block to give Concordia (Chicago) the set at 26-24 and knot the match at 2-2.
In the final set, Illinois College jumped out to a 5-1 lead, forcing a timeout from the Cougars. Concordia (Chicago) then got hot and scored 10 of the next 11 points to make it 11-6. Just as quickly as the IC offense had cooled off, the Lady Blues found their rhythm again, scoring five straight to tie the score at 11-11. Shields had three kills in that brief stretch. An error from Illinois College gave the Cougars the lead and the serve, and Stamp took care of it from there, registering an ace and keeping the Lady Bluess off-balance as CUC scored the last four points and won, 15-11.
Besides the 39 combined kills from Pankey and Shields, Ramsey also had eight kills in the match, while Heinz and
Kori Hayes had four apiece.
Courtney Williams had a huge double-double with 50 assists and 10 digs. Pankey also had a double-double with a team-high 24 digs. Jockisch and
Madie Budd each ended with 17 digs in the match as well.
Game Two: Illinois College 3, Olivet 0
(26-24, 25-21, 25-21)
The letdown of losing in five sets followed Illinois College into the match against Olivet College, but a switch was flipped late in the first set and the Lady Blues were all over the Comets from that point on.
Late in the first set, Olivet led Illinois College, 19-10. The Lady Blues had started out flat and the Comets had taken advantage. Out of nowhere, IC scored five out of six points to get some of its spark back. Then, with the score 21-15, the Lady Blues reeled off five straight to cut the deficit to one, then tied the score at 22-22 on a block from Heinz and Shields. With the score level at 24-24, Hayes smacked down back-to-back kills to complete the remarkable comeback and put Illinois College up, 1-0.
Olivet had a three-point run in the middle of the second set to take a 16-13 lead on Illinois College, a rally which made Head Coach
Kristy Duncan use a timeout. The break in the action worked wonders as the Lady Blues scored five straight and eight of the next nine points to go on top, 21-17. The Comets cut the IC lead to two points twice down the stretch, but Pankey had a kill and then a block along with Shields to clinch the 2-0 lead with a 25-21 victory in the second set.
Though Illinois College took a quick 5-1 lead in the third set, the Comets wouldn't go quietly. A five-point Olivet run gave the visitors a 10-7 lead, and the match would be tied all the way up to 17-17. A Pankey kill and two Comet attack errors broke the deadlock, and though Olivet got within one point at 22-21, kills by Ramsey and Hayes, plus an OC attack error ended the match.
Pankey again had the match-high in kills, ending with 16. Hayes ended with 12, reaching double-figures in kills for the first time in her collegiate career. Williams again had a nice performance as setter, finishing with 33 assists and eight digs. Budd led the Lady Blues with 16 digs, while
Emily Woods added 10.
