JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team put on one of its best performances of the year, requiring just over 50 minutes to dispatch Beloit College on Friday night, 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-11). The win lifts the Lady Blues back into the top four of the Midwest Conference and marks the most wins in a season for IC since 2006 as they improve to 16-6 (5-3 MWC).
The tone for the night was set early on. The teams traded points up to 3-3 in the first set, but after a service error gave the serve back to IC, the Lady Blues took control with back-to-back blocks involving
Maddie Ramsey and back-to-back aces from
Madie Budd. A score of 7-3 was as close as Beloit would get the rest of the way and the lead grew exponentially as the set moved along, helped by the fact that the Buccaneers had only two kills and committed eight attack errors for a -.261 hitting percentage.
Beloit's chance to get back in it came in the second set, but Illinois College made the plays it needed to in the closing stages to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Buccaneers found themselves ahead early on, 5-2, but IC recovered to tie the set at 10-10 on a kill from
MacKenzie Heinz. The set stayed close all the way to 18-18, but
Rebecca Shields came up with a kill to give the Lady Blues the lead for good. After a Heinz kill made it 20-18, Beloit used a timeout but it was too late. Shields and Heinz each came up with another kill down the stretch and a pair of Beloit errors gave IC the final two points in a 25-20 victory.
The third set became almost a carbon copy of the first set, as the Lady Blues took their game to another level and Beloit simply couldn't keep up. The Buccaneers strung together two points to make it a 14-8 contest after a fast IC start, but from there the Bucs had Eva Laun-Smith commit three errors in quick succession. That, along with a kill from
Ali Pankey, put the Lady Blues ahead, 18-8. Substitutes
Sydney Himmelman and
Madison Klanke got involved too, with Himmelman coming up with a block and a kill before Klanke supplied Illinois College with the match-clinching point down the line.
As a team, Illinois College hit at a .305 clip on Friday night while holding the Buccaneers to a -.043 hitting percentage. Pankey ended with a match-high 14 kills and added 12 digs.
Elizabeth Ganley also had a double-double with 33 assists and 17 digs. Ramsey and
Brenna Dameris each tacked on seven kills.
Illinois College celebrates Senior Day tomorrow afternoon with a 1 p.m. start against Lake Forest College in Sherman Gymnasium.
