The Forester volleyball team came from behind to win 16-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-22 Thursday night at Illinois College. Senior Cori Cooper was one of two Lake Forest players with a match-high 20 kills and she recorded her 1,000th career dig.
Cooper became just the fourth player in program history to surpass the 1,000 milestone in both kills and digs, joining classmate Molly McCloskey and 2003 graduates Jeny Anderson and Stephanie Metzger. Both Cooper and McCloskey had 20 kills on Thursday and McCloskey added a career-high 30 digs.
Fellow senior Courtney Faulstick also reached double figures with 10 kills while classmate Tia Rupnik tallied 20 digs and sophomore Torie Pasiewicz added 12. Pasiewicz also finished the night with a career-high 48 assists while McCloskey and Faulstick chipped in with four and three aces, respectively.
Lake Forest led 4-1 early in the opening set but the Lady Blues earned 16 of the next 22 points to take a 17-10 lead. The visitors trimmed the deficit to 20-15 but Illinois College closed out the set with a 5-1 run.
The Foresters fell behind 6-1 to start the second set and trailed 15-10 later on before rallying to tie the score at 18. It was knotted again at 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 before kills by McCloskey and senior Kristen Braun gave the visitors the victory in set two.
The Foresters never trailed in the third set but their seven-point advantage shrunk to two at 16-14 and 17-15. Lake Forest rattled off the next five points, however, to regain control of the match, and another kill by Braun finished off the set.
Illinois College led by an many as four points early in the set four and had an 11-10 advantage when a kill by Faulstick started a 7-0 run that included three consecutive kills by McCloskey. The Lady Blue fought off three match points before a kill by McCloskey secured the Forester victory.
Lake Forest is now 15-8 overall and 5-2 in Midwest Conference play. Illinois College fell to 9-12 overall and 3-4 in the league.
The Foresters will continue conference play next Tuesday night at Carroll University. The contest will begin at 7:00 p.m.