The Lake Forest College volleyball team defeated visiting Lawrence University 25-19, 25-16, 25-15 on Saturday to clinch a spot in next weekend's four-team Midwest Conference Tournament. The Foresters then closed out the regular season with a 25-15, 28-26, 23-25, 25-23 triumph over Alverno College. Junior Cori Cooper had a match-high 18 kills against Lawrence and reached the 1,000-kill mark for her career against Alverno.
Cooper also had 11 digs against Lawrence for her third straight double double and 12th this season. Fellow junior Molly McCloskey finished the match with 11 kills, 11 digs, and three blocks. Classmate Courtney Faulstick also recorded three blocks in the contest.
Junior Tia Rupnik led the home team with 18 digs and freshman Brooke Perkins chipped in with 13.
Forester sophomore Tori Drasler led all players in the match with 22 assists and freshman Torie Pasiewicz added 17.
The Foresters trailed 9-8 in the opening set before going on a 10-3 run and closing it out by alternating points with the Vikings the rest of the way. Cooper had seven kills in the set.
A 10-3 run in the middle of set two put Lake Forest comfortably ahead again and Cooper closed out the set with her 13th kill of the match.
The Foresters faced a 7-5 deficit in the third set before rattling off six straight points to take the lead. Lake Forest began an 11-1 run just moments later and closed out the match.
Lawrence rebounded and closed out its season with a 25-15, 25-18, 25-16 victory over Alverno.
Cooper needed just five more kills against Alverno to reach 1,000 for her career and she accomplished the feat in the first set.
McCloskey pounded out a match-high 21 kills in the contest and added 12 digs for her seventh straight double double and team-high 17th this season. Freshman Amber Craghead was next on the team with eight kills.
Rupnik led the home team again with 26 digs, Pasiewicz had 16, Perkins 14, and sophomore Stephanie Hill a career-high 11.
Perkins, Rupnik, and Faulstick each recorded a pair of aces.
Lake Forest won eight of the contest's first nine points and led by as many as 14 in the opening set. A kill by McCloskey closed out the set.
A 5-0 Forester run gave the home team a 21-16 lead in the second set but the Inferno came back to tie the score at 22. Lake Forest needed six set point opportunities to finally take a two-set-to-none lead on a kill by Hill.
Alverno won six straight points early in the third set to take a 10-3 lead. The margin reached as many as eight points before the Foresters began to come back. The difference was trimmed to a single point (24-23) before Alverno closed it out.
Lake Forest used a 9-4 run early in the third set to take the lead for good. The Foresters' lead reached five points at 15-10 but the visitors eventually came back to tie the score at 22. Back-to-back kills by McCloskey out the home team back on top and an Alverno service error finished off the match.
The victories on Saturday give the Foresters a 14-13 overall record and they finished 6-3 in the conference after defeating Lawrence. The Vikings' split left them with an overall mark of 13-19 and league record of 5-4. Alverno dropped to 4-28.
Lake Forest will be the #3 seed in next weekend's conference tournament, which will be hosted by league champion St. Norbert College. The Foresters will face Monmouth College in Friday's 4:30 p.m. semifinal and the winner will advance to Saturday's final at 1:00 p.m.
