JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team blasted Monmouth College on Tuesday night for a three-set sweep of the Fighting Scots (25-15, 25-14, 25-18). The win lifted the Lady Blues to 15-4 (4-1 Midwest Conference) and matched the most wins in a season by Head Coach
Kristy Duncan in her five-year tenure. The Lady Blues last won 16 matches in a season in 2006.
In the first set, Illinois College broke open a tight battle with a five-point run to take a 15-9 lead.
MacKenzie Heinz had two kills in that stretch, while
Brenna Dameris added a kill and a block assist. With the score 21-15, IC put it away by scoring the final four points of the set.
Maddie Ramsey forced a timeout from Monmouth after making it 22-15, but it did no good and
Ali Pankey hammered down a kill for a 23-15 lead before
Cheyanne Jockisch delivered back-to-back aces to end it.
The Fighting Scots came out strong in the second set and had an 8-3 lead before it quickly vanished. The Lady Blues put three points in a row on the board to make it 8-6, then, after Monmouth earned a side-out and a 9-6 lead, scored 10 straight to blow the set wide open with a 16-9 advantage. Pankey had three kills in that stretch, but many of the wounds were self-inflicted as Monmouth committed five errors. The visitors would get no closer than five points after that and a
Rebecca Shields kill closed it down for a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the third set, a block from Heinz and Ramsey followed by a kill from Ramsey helped shift the tide away from Monmouth and give Illinois College a 14-10 lead. The Fighting Scots made one last push, scoring four straight to pull within two at 18-16, but a pair of aces from
Elizabeth Ganley made sure that IC had plenty of breathing room down the stretch.
Illinois College ended with eight aces in the match, compared to only one for Monmouth. Pankey led IC on the night with 11 kills, while Ramsey added 10 more. Ganley had yet another double-double with 35 assists and 12 digs. Jockisch led the back line with 18 digs.
Coming up on Friday night is a battle between first and second place in the MWC as Illinois College takes on Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa at 7 p.m.
