GREENVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team ran into a buzzsaw on Tuesday night in a 3-0 loss at Greenville University. The Panthers, led by Abby Freeman's 19 kills and .586 hitting percentage, were unstoppable offensively and swept past the Lady Blues by scores of 25-22, 25-22, 25-18. IC falls to 6-2 on the season.
The first set was a back-and-forth battle in which Greenville consistently nosed out in front of the Lady Blues. Down 19-15, Illinois College used a timeout and was able to come back out and tie the set at 19-19, but at 20-20, Freeman took over and gave the Panthers the lead back before Payten Morris put the set away with consecutive kills for the home side.
Illinois College had a better hitting percentage than Greenville in the first set, but the story changed after that. The Panthers smashed down 18 kills in the second set, hitting .316 as a team. They raised their hitting percentage to .333 in the third set. Though the Lady Blues battled, they couldn't keep up with that potent of an attack.
Trailing 24-19 late in the second set, Illinois College made a push with kills from
Rebecca Shields and
Brenna Dameris and an ace from
Elizabeth Ganley before Anna Finch ended it for a 2-0 Greenville lead in the match.
An early five-point run in the third set made it 6-1 in favor of Greenville before
Maddie Ramsey earned Illinois College a side-out. The Panthers would eventually lead by as many as eight points in the set and despite another comeback attempt from the Lady Blues, Greenville would hold on for the victory.
Ramsey led Illinois College in the match with 11 kills and a .409 hitting percentage.
Ali Pankey added eight kills and
Brenna Dameris had seven kills to her credit.
Madie Budd led the Lady Blues with 14 digs and Ganley had a total of 30 assists on the night.
Illinois College plays four matches in a span of 24 hours this weekend at Knox College. On Sept. 14, IC will face Olivet College at 4 p.m. and Lincoln College at 6 p.m. The next afternoon brings a 1 p.m. matchup against Wheaton College (IL) before the tournament closes with a 3 p.m. meeting between the Lady Blues and Westminster College (MO).
