ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Illinois College volleyball team had four players notch at least 10 kills on Thursday night, starting the night strong and holding off a push from Fontbonne University to earn a 3-1 victory (25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 25-21) in non-conference action. The Lady Blues up their record to 10-3 overall on the season.
Illinois College came out on fire in the first two sets, hitting .289 as a team in the opening set of the match and then increasing that to .351 in the second set. The first set turned in IC's favor on a five-point run from the Lady Blues that included kills from
Brenna Dameris and
Rebecca Shields to take a 12-6 lead. Shields would later record the last two IC kills of the set to give her side the 1-0 advantage.
The Lady Blues had 15 kills and only two attack errors in the second set, taking a 3-0 lead out of the gate and never trailing.
Ali Pankey had four kills sprinkled in amongst IC's first nine points, but
Maddie Ramsey took the set over late. Four of the junior's five kills in the set came all in a row, pushing the Illinois College lead to 21-14 by the time she was done. Fontbonne would get within four points but no closer as Illinois College took a 2-0 lead.
Though IC started strong in the third set with five of the first six points, Fontbonne eventually rallied and forced a fourth set. Down 14-9, the Griffins tied the set for the first time at 16-16. With the score 22-22, Fontbonne registered a pair of blocks late in the set to take the 25-22 victory.
The fourth set was tight throughout as Fontbonne threatened to send the match to a fifth. Eight early ties in the set left the score at 9-9 before a four-point run from the Lady Blues gave them a 12-9 lead. The Griffins answered back with a five-point rally to take a 15-13 lead after four errors from the Lady Blues. Down the stretch, the tandem of Pankey and Ramsey gave Illinois College just enough to earn the road win. The two had back-to-back kills to tie it at 15-15. From there, they had either kills or blocks on seven of IC's final 10 points. With the score tied at 20-20, Pankey closed with three quick kills and Ramsey had the final one of the night as a strong push at the end lifted the Lady Blues to the 25-21 victory.
Pankey ended with a match-high 19 kills, while Ramsey added 17 on a team-best .333 hitting percentage. Dameris had 11 on the night and Shields added 10.
Elizabeth Ganley and
Emily Woods each had 23 assists in the match, while Woods added 10 digs for a double-double.
Cheyanne Jockisch led IC with 16 digs on the night.
Midwest Conference play opens for Illinois College at home on Sept. 26, taking on Knox College at 7 p.m.
