GALESBURG, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team took care of business on the opening day of the Knox College Tournament on Friday, sweeping Olivet College in three sets (25-16, 25-6, 25-17) and then getting past Lincoln College in four sets (26-28, 25-23, 25-8, 25-21). The two wins improve the Lady Blues to 8-2 on the season.
A challenging day awaits Illinois College tomorrow to close out the tournament. The Lady Blues first meet Wheaton College (7-2) at 1 p.m., then finish against Westminster College (6-2) at 3 p.m.
Illinois College 3, Olivet 0
Illinois College dominated Olivet in the opener on Friday, limiting the Comets to a .049 hitting percentage while committing only nine attack errors (none in the second set) as a team.
Ali Pankey had a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs, while also serving up four aces as well.
Olivet led early on in the first set before a series of runs from Illinois College eventually pushed the Lady Blues out to a 19-6 advantage. A late four-point rally from Olivet made the set seem closer than it actually was, but a kill from
Maddie Ramsey finished it off for IC at 25-16.
Pankey supplied a couple early kills in the second set to quickly make it 3-0. The Comets then managed to cut it to 4-2 before the Lady Blues went wild on the serves of
Cheyanne Jockisch and Pankey. By the time Olivet had earned its second side-out against the two, the IC lead had ballooned to 18-4 and there was no let-up from the Lady Blues the rest of the way in the 25-6 laugher.
With Pankey serving again in the third set, Illinois College scored 10 straight points to take a commanding 14-3 lead. The closest Olivet would get after that was within seven points, and that came on the penultimate point of the match. A kill from
Sydney Himmelman ended it and clinched the sweep for the Lady Blues, 25-17.
A total of 15 players entered the match for the Lady Blues in the afternoon contest. Besides Pankey's big day, Ramsey and
Brenna Dameris each collected eight kills and
Rebecca Shields had six while hitting .500.
Elizabeth Ganley ended with 35 assists and
Madie Budd had a match-high 18 digs.
Illinois College 3, Lincoln 1
The Lady Blues faced some early adversity after falling behind a set to Lincoln, but a clutch second set victory leveled the match at a set apiece and IC handled things from there, downing the Lynx in four sets. 46 of Illinois College's 60 kills in the match came from the trio of Pankey, Dameris and Ramsey.
Illinois College had control early in the first set, forcing timeouts from Lincoln while holding leads of 11-6 and 19-14. The match began to tighten late, with the Lady Blues using a timeout after the Lynx came back within a point at 23-22. Though IC would have four set points, Lincoln fought off each one and eventually scored three straight point to go from a 26-25 deficit to a 28-26 victory.
The second set followed a similar pattern as Illinois College led much of the way until Lincoln closed the gap late. The Lady Blues went ahead on the Lynx, 16-10, but Lincoln came back to level the score at 22-22. This time around, IC responded. A pair of errors from Lincoln made it 24-23 and Pankey smashed down the final kill of the set for a 25-23 win.
The talent of Illinois College began to shine through in the third set. The Lady Blues opened with eight straight points and would never be remotely challenged throughout. While Lincoln was hitting -.067 for the set, Illinois College had 14 kills on 21 attacks with no errors, good for a .667 team hitting percentage.
Though the fourth set was closer, Illinois College ran off six consecutive points in the early going to take a 9-4 lead and the Lady Blues would not trail from that point on. Lincoln did manage to fight back and tie the score at 15-15, but Dameris gave the lead back to IC and
Brooke Brandis then had an ace to push the lead back to two, 17-15. The Lady Blues soon re-established command and closed out the match ona kill from Pankey.
Pankey ended the match with 17 kills and 16 digs for her second double-double of the day. Dameris had 16 kills and Ramsey added 13 on a team-best .444 hitting percentage. Shields ended with eight kills and had an errorless day on 33 total attacks in the two matches. Ganley also notched a double-double with 53 assists and 17 digs, which led five Lady Blues with double-figures in the defensive category.
