WHEATON, Ill. – The Illinois College volleyball team came up just short of an impressive non-conference win on Friday night, falling to Wheaton College, 3-2 (25-22, 15-25, 25-19, 22-25, 13-15). The Lady Blues fall to 9-3 overall on the season in defeat.
Ali Pankey had one of her best career matches and it started in the first set as she contributed six kills and an ace in a 22-25 win for Illinois College. The set was back and forth the whole way and was tied at 22-22 before the Lady Blues scored the final three in a row.
Abbie Horstmann had a kill to give IC the one-point edge and that was followed by a Wheaton attack error before Pankey finished it off.
Wheaton led beginning to end in the second set, notching the first three points of the set. Later on, a 10-7 advantage ballooned into a 16-7 lead for the Thunder as errors began to pile up for the Lady Blues. IC was able to get within seven, but Deborah Smith had the final three kills to finish off the set for Wheaton.
In the third set it would be Illinois College who would lead from the first point on. Pankey had a pair of kills as part of a 5-1 start. Wheaton would make multiple runs to close the gap throughout the set, but could never get closer than two.
The Lady Blues started out strong in the fourth set and looked as though they might be on the verge of closing it out until Wheaton stormed back. Trailing 12-9, the Thunder scored seven straight to turn the set on its head. The lead grew to 23-17 before Illinois College made it interesting, scoring four straight on three attack errors and a
Faith Stallard ace. That was as close as the Lady Blues would get however, as Ellie Brown had the final two points for Wheaton to send the match to a fifth set.
IC found itself behind the 8-ball right from the start in the fifth set, giving up the first four points to Wheaton. The teams traded sides of the net with the Thunder up, 8-4. Consecutive kills from
Maddie Ramsey capped a three-point spurt to bring the Lady Blues back to within a point at 8-7. That would be the first of four occasions in which Illinois College got within a point but could not find a way to tie the score. At 14-13, the last of Smith's 13 kills ended it for the Thunder.
Pankey ended the night with a match-high 20 kills and a team-high 23 digs.
Elizabeth Ganley also added a double-double with 51 assists and 10 digs. Horstmann had 10 kills,
Brenna Dameris and
Madison Klanke had nine apiece and Ramsey ended with eight.
Madie Budd had 14 digs.
Illinois College returns to action tomorrow at 1 p.m. with a Midwest Conference matchup at Lake Forest College.
