BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team reached the 20-win threshold for the first time since 2005 on Friday night after claiming victories over Nebraska Wesleyan University (25-20, 21-25, 25-17, 27-25) and Centre College (25-11, 25-15, 25-15).
The Lady Blues will wrap up the Barker Chevrolet Volleyball Classic at Illinois Wesleyan University with a 12 p.m. match tomorrow against Dominican University (Ill.).
Illinois College 3, Nebraska Wesleyan 1
Illinois College rose to the occasion when challenged in its opener on Friday evening. Playing a Nebraska Wesleyan team much better than its 9-15 record, the Lady Blues outlasted the Prairie Wolves behind a consistent offense.
Brenna Dameris,
MacKenzie Heinz and
Rebecca Shields all ended with 11 kills in the match against NWU.
Ali Pankey added on 10 kills and
Maddie Ramsey had nine. Both Pankey (10 kills, 23 digs) and
Elizabeth Ganley (48 assists, 21 digs) ended with double-doubles.
Ganley had 15 assists in the first set alone as Illinois College roared out of the gates. Though the Prairie Wolves hung tough until the midway point of the half, a four-point run keyed by two Dameris kills and a block from Dameris and Ramsey extended Illinois College's lead to 18-13. With the score 24-20, Nebraska Wesleyan served a ball into the net to end the set and give IC the 1-0 lead.
The Prairie Wolves showed they were ready to battle in the second set. The Lady Blues enjoyed the lead fairly consistently throughout the set, but NWU rallied late. With the score 21-21, the Prairie Wolves reeled off the last four points to square the match at a set apiece.
With a .429 hitting percentage in the third set, Illinois College raised its game to take a 2-1 lead. Ganley once again had a big set with 14 assists and both Pankey and Shields had four kills each. The set was still fairly close towards the end with IC out in front 19-15, but the team ended it by scoring six of the last eight points for a 25-17 victory.
The gut check for the Lady Blues came in the fourth set. After cruising out to a 5-1 lead, things got tough and four straight points from the Prairie Wolves gave them an 11-9 lead. As the set continued along, Illinois College eventually earned a pair of match points after a kill from Heinz gave it a 24-22 lead. However, Nebraska Wesleyan saved those match points and earned a set point of its own after scoring three straight for a 25-24 advantage. After a timeout, Lizzie Saale sent her serve out of play and Nebraska Wesleyan followed with a pair of attack errors to give Illinois College the 27-25 win.
Illinois College 3, Centre 0
It was a much different story in the nightcap for the Lady Blues as Centre College had a negative hitting percentage at -.026 and the Lady Blues committed only seven attack errors in the whole match to claim the easy win.
After the Colonels took a 1-0 lead in the first set, Illinois College scored six straight to take command. The lead would never drop below four points after that. Pankey and
Madison Klanke each had three kills in the set and Ganley had 10 assists. Helping on the defensive side of things were
Cheyanne Jockisch and
Brooke Brandis with six digs each as Centre hit -.048 in the set.
The offense got rolling in the second set behind the play of Ramsey. The junior had four kills on five attacks to help IC hit .407 in the set. Both Heinz and Klanke added three kills and Ganley this time handed out 13 assists. The last tie came at 5-5 before the Lady Blues scored four straight with
Madie Budd on serve to take the lead for good.
A seven-point surge from Illinois College to start the third set put the match essentially on ice. After Centre closed to within 8-4, the Lady Blues rattled off six more in a row to take a 14-4 lead. At that point, the Lady Blues were able to go to their bench and work in some less experienced players.
Faith Stallard ended the set with three assists and four digs, while
Reagan Gifford had a pair of kills in the latter stages of the match.
Ramsey ended with a match-high 11 kills and a .579 hitting percentage. Both Shields and Klanke had six kills and Heinz added on five. Ganley contributed 30 assists. Jockisch and Brandis hit double-digits in digs with 12 and 10, respectively.
