The Lake Forest College volleyball team defeated visiting Beloit College 25-13, 25-18, 25-15 Wednesday night in the Midwest Conference opener for both squads. Forester senior Cori Cooper led all players in the match with 14 kills.
Fellow senior Molly McCloskey was next on the team with 13 kills in the match and passed Stephanie Metzger (2000-03) for sixth place in program history with 1,083 career kills. Cooper is fifth with 1,157 and they are chasing Stephanie Reinboldt (1997-2001), who ranks fourth with 1,290. McCloskey also reached double figures with 11 digs on Wednesday and added a pair of aces.
Sophomore Torie Pasiewicz led Lake Forest with 34 assists and 15 digs and senior Tia Rupnik chipped in with 11 digs and two aces. Senior Megan Trubich finished with seven kills, a .429 hitting percentage, and three blocks.
McCloskey recorded kills on the first three points of the match and the Foresters jumped out to a 6-0 lead. They built the lead to eight points at 13-5 and to 13 at 21-8. A kill by Cooper made it 24-13 and an attack error by the Buccaneers closed out the first set.
Beloit's 10-5 lead in the second set was the visitors' largest advantage of the night. Forester senior Courtney Faulstick recorded a kill and then served eight times in a row as Lake Forest took a 13-10 lead. The margin grew to as many as eight points and a kill by Faulstick finished off the set.
The third and final set was tied at 12 when the Foresters began a 9-1 run to take a commanding lead. Kills by Cooper accounted for three of the final four points in the contest, including match point.
Lake Forest is now 10-5 overall and Beloit 2-14.
The Foresters will continue conference play at Ripon College Saturday night at 7:00.