The Forester volleyball team was defeated 15-25, 25-20, 25-23, 21-25, 15-12 by visiting St. Norbert College Friday night. Freshman Torie Pasiewicz led Lake Forest with 26 assists and she added a career-high 22 digs as well as an ace.
Pasiewicz's digs total was just one shy of the team-high 23 recorded by junior Tia Rupnik. Freshman Brooke Perkins and juniors Molly McCloskey and Cori Cooper also reached double figures in digs with 16, 14, and 13, respectively, and the team finished with a season-high 96 in the match.
Lake Forest also matched a season-high with 60 kills, led by McCloskey's 23 and 19 by Cooper.
Junior Courtney Faulstick led the home team with five blocks and Cooper added four.
All six Foresters that served during the match had exactly one ace.
Lake Forest lost the first point of the night but won the next five and led the rest of the opening set. The Foresters were able to pull away by preventing the Green Knights from putting together any kind of run. The visitors won back-to-back points just three times in the set and had were unable to score three in a row. Pasiewicz assisted on a kill by freshman Amber Craghead to close it out. It was the 22nd set St. Norbert had played in Midwest Conference contests this season but the first one the league champions lost.
Set two was tied at 11 before a 7-1 run by St. Norbert. Lake Forest trimmed the margin to four points on three occasions but got no closer.
Another 7-1 Green Knight run broke a 10-10 tie in the third set and the Foresters were forced to try to play catch-up again. They closed to within two points at 18-16 and later rattled off four in a row while facing set points to make the score 24-23. The visitors won the next point, however, to take a two-set-to-one lead in the match.
The fourth set was tied at 11, 12, 13, and 14 before the Foresters scored back-to-back points to grab the lead for good. Neither team would win more than two points in a row the rest of the way and the home team prevailed 25-21 to extend the contest to a fifth and deciding set.
Lake Forest jumped out to a 4-1 lead and later had a 9-6 advantage before St. Norbert scored six in a row. The Foresters pulled to within two points and 12-10 and 14-12 but were unable to complete the comeback.
The home team fell to 12-13 overall and 5-3 in league play. St. Norbert is now 23-7 overall and 8-0 in the league.
The Foresters will be back out on their home court for a pair of matches tomorrow. They will need a victory in their 11:00 a.m. contest against Lawrence University to secure a spot in next weekend's four-team MWC Tournament. Lake Forest will close out the regular season at 3:00 in the afternoon against Alverno College.
