COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Illinois College volleyball team went 1-1 on the first day of its trip to Colorado on Friday. The Lady Blues played tough but fell in three sets to #8 Colorado College before recovering for a 3-0 sweep of Johnson & Wales University later in the day. IC is now 14-5 overall on the season.
Illinois College wraps up its trip with one more match tomorrow, facing off with Randolph-Macon College at 1 p.m. (CDT) before returning home.
#8 Colorado College 3, Illinois College 0
(16-25, 18-25, 21-25)
Illinois College kept its errors low against the No. 8 team in the nation, but couldn't put enough together offensively to challenge the Tigers in the first match of the day.
The Lady Blues had only seven kills and a .065 hitting percentage in the first set of the match against Colorado College. The Tigers gradually pulled away in the latter stages of the set for a 25-16 win to go up, 1-0.
Colorado College roared out of the gates in the second set and led by a score of 17-7 at one point. Kills by
Maddie Ramsey and
Brenna Dameris helped IC close the gap and the Lady Blues would later score four straight to bring the score to within five at 22-17. Following a Tiger timeout, Colorado College quickly scored three of the next four points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Blues hit a match-best .371 as a team in the third set, but CC answered with a .389 hitting percentage in the set to close it out. The set was tied multiple times, the last of which came at 15-15 following a block from Ramsey and
Madison Klanke. The Tigers followed that block with four straight points, however, taking a lead they wouldn't give back.
Ali Pankey ended with 10 kills and 10 digs in the match.
Madie Budd had 14 digs and
Elizabeth Ganley totaled 27 assists.
Illinois College 3, Johnson & Wales (CO) 0
(25-21, 25-17, 25-17)
After facing likely the top team they'll see all season, Illinois College had an easier time of it in the nightcap. The Lady Blues had a team hitting percentage of .304 for the whole match and were helped by 23 Johnson & Wales attack errors.
After starting off with a 1-0 deficit in the first set, Illinois College scored seven straight points with
Reagan Gifford on serve. The lead ballooned all the way to 13-3 before the Wildcats began to claw their way back into it. The lead shrank to three at 24-21 late on in the set before a ball-handling error handed IC a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Blues again jumped way ahead quickly in the second set, scoring nine of the first 11 points. During a four-point run that sealed it late in the set,
Abbie Horstmann had a kill and was involved in a pair of blocks to make it 24-13. After Johnson & Wales came back to within seven, Horstmann ended it with her fourth kill of the set.
Ramsey made sure there was no letup going into the third set. The senior opened the scoring with a kill and then had a solo block and a block assist to make it 3-0 in favor of Illinois college. A Johnson'& Wales attack error followed to make it 4-0. The Wildcats simply couldn't slow the Lady Blues down after that as IC compiled a .412 hitting percentage for the set with 18 kills against only four attack errors.
Ramsey and Pankey each ended the match with 11 kills while Horstmann added 10. Both Ramsey and Horstmann had hitting percentages above .500 for the match. Budd once again led the defense with 16 digs while Ganley tallied up 40 assists.
