Sophomore Molly McCloskey was named to the Elmhurst College Invitational All-Tournament Team after helping lead Lake Forest to a 3-1 record at the event. The Foresters defeated Western New England College in three sets before falling in four to Wheaton College on Friday. They knocked off Augustana College in four sets and Trine University in three on Saturday. The Foresters are now 3-3 on the season.
McCloskey recorded a team-high eight kills in the 25-17, 25-12, 25-10 victory over Western New England. Senior Deena Blanchard led the squad with 18 assists, sophomore Megan Trubich with six aces, freshman Tia Rupnik with a dozen digs, and sophomore Cori Cooper with three blocks.
McCloskey and Trubich tallied 14 and 10 kills, respectively, in the 25-12, 25-23, 21-25, 25-23 loss to Wheaton. Blanchard, Trubich, and Rupnik again paced the squad with 21 assists, four aces, and 23 digs, respectively. Senior Mandi Mulliner recorded a team-high five blocks.
Lake Forest leaders in Saturday's 24-26, 25-19, 25-22, 25-22 triumph over Augustana included McCloskey with 10 kills, Blanchard with 25 assists, Rupnik with 26 digs, and Mulliner and freshman Katlyn Beckow with six blocks apiece. Other notable statistics included Trubich's 20 digs and Cooper's nine kills.
Cooper closed out the weekend with a team-high 10 kills and three aces as the Foresters defeated Trine 25-16, 25-19, 25-20. Freshman Tori Drasler led the squad with 15 assists, Rupnik added 20 more digs, and both McCloskey and Beckow had four blocks. Trubich matched Cooper with three aces.
McCloskey's 37 kills on the weekend led the Foresters and her 11 blocks was tied for second on the squad. Other team leaders included Blanchard with 77 assists, Trubich with 14 aces, Rupnik with 81 digs, and Mulliner with 16 blocks.
After sweeping Saturday's matches, head coach Jennifer Saylor was happy with her team's effort and performance. "It was a great day for us. We started out slow versus Augustana but really fought back. We played really hard and had a strong match defensively. We were able to serve aggressively to keep them out of system throughout the final three sets.
"Against Trine we were able to take them out of system with our serves and our outside hitters really hit their stride and made a huge impact. Defensively we did a great job. Our block really frustrated their offense, which caused quite a few errors."
The Foresters will have an opportunity to avenge their only loss on the weekend when they travel to Wheaton on Tuesday for a 7:00 non-conference match.
