By: Though the Lady Blues suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday morning, they pulled together in the afternoon and rallied past Culver-Stockton to move to 3-1 on the year.
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Box Score 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team couldn't get the offense going on Saturday morning, suffering its first loss of the season with a 3-0 sweep to Trine University. But after going a set down to Culver-Stockton College in the afternoon, the Lady Blues pulled it together and won three sets in a row over the Wildcats, including a spectacular comeback from nine points down in the clinching fourth set.
The 1-1 day moves Illinois College to 3-1 on the season following the first of two home tournaments in September. The home stand continues for IC on Sept. 5 with a single home match against Robert Morris-Springfield starting at 7 p.m.
Match One: Trine 3, Illinois College 0
(23-25, 16-25, 20-25)
The offense that looked so unstoppable at times on Friday sputtered on Saturday morning. The Lady Blues managed to hit just .038 in the match and only
Ali Pankey had more than four kills in the match for IC, ending with a team-best nine.
Down 20-14 in the first set, Illinois College briefly got it in gear and was able to close within a point twice in the late stages of the set before the Thunder put it away. Pulling out the first set might have awoken the Lady Blues, but once Trine had the lead it never looked back.
The second set was tied just twice, the last time at 3-3. The Thunder then reeled off five points in a row and easily took a 2-0 lead. IC ended with a -.065 hitting percentage in the set, making seven attack errors.
Trine once again took a healthy lead in the early stages of the third set and were primed to put the match away with little problem. Ahead 22-15, the Thunder briefly faltered as Illinois College took five straight points that included a pair of kills each from Pankey and
Kori Hayes. With the advantage down to two points, Trine righted the ship thanks to a pair of IC attack errors and closed it out, 25-20.
Both
MacKenzie Heinz and
Rebecca Shields ended with four kills for the Lady Blues.
Elizabeth Ganley had a double-double with 19 assists and 14 digs, while
Madie Budd had a team-best 16 digs.
Match Two: Illinois College 3, Culver-Stockton 1
(25-27, 26-24, 25-13, 25-22)
The offensive slump was short-lived as Illinois College got back to business and closed out the weekend with an impressive victory over Culver-Stockton. After two back-and-forth sets left the match knotted at 1-1, Illinois College poured it on the Wildcats in the third set and then recovered from a deep deficit in the fourth set to earn the win.
Culver-Stockton looked good early on in the match and took a 17-12 lead midway through the first set before four straight kills from the Lady Blues and three attack errors from the Wildcats put IC in front, 19-17. Momentum shifted back and forth from there and IC managed a set point at 24-23 after a Shields kill. Culver-Stockton held off Illinois College and then scored the final two points of the set to take the 27-25 win and a 1-0 lead.
The second set also required more than the standard 25 points to determine a winner. An Illinois College attack error late in the set gave Culver-Stockton a set point with a 24-23 lead, but Shields laid down a kill to knot the score at 24-24, then an attack error from the Wildcats put IC on top, 25-24.
Maddie Ramsey closed it out following a timeout to pull the Lady Blues even in the match.
Illinois College's great escape from what could have been a 2-0 deficit turned the tide in the match. The Lady Blues led early in the third set, then allowed Culver-Stockton to come back and tie the score at 9-9. A timeout restored Illinois College's energy and the Lady Blues came out of the break with six straight points. All told, 16 of the last 20 points in the set went IC's way to give the Lady Blues the 2-1 edge.
Culver-Stockton made one last push in the fourth set and seemingly had the match destined for a fifth set after the Wildcats led 16-7 midway through. A change in the substitution pattern and a kill for freshman
Sydney Himmelman helped the Lady Blues get back on serve and soon the Wildcats had burned through two timeouts as Illinois College rallied to tie the score at 17-17. Even those stoppages couldn't slow the Lady Blues down though. Pankey combined with
Mikayla Greenwood and Hayes for a pair of blocks that increased the lead to 20-17 and IC closed out the match from there.
Ganley notched her fourth double-double in as many matches with 45 assists and 14 digs. Budd led the defense with 26 digs while
Cheyanne Jockisch added 19. Ramsey and Shields each ended with 12 kills to lead the team, while Pankey had 10 kills, 16 digs and six block assists. Greenwood also got hot at some important points in the match and ended with nine kills.
