The Lake Forest College volleyball team posted a 25-23, 21-25, 16-25, 25-21, 15-12 victory at Grinnell College on Saturday to salvage a split of its weekend trip to Iowa. Sophomore K.C. Wenson led the visitors with 14 kills and five blocks on the day.
Among Wenson's kills were the final points of the first and fourth sets.
Freshman Brittany Avonts was next on the team with nine kills and junior Sarah House added eight. Junior Torie Pasiewicz led Lake Forest with 18 assists and 18 digs while senior Victoria Drasler added 15 assists and a pair of blocks. Sophomore libero Brianne Honda tallied 17 digs and served up a team-high four aces.
The first set was tied 14 times, including at each score from one through nine. Grinnell won the next three points but the Foresters responded by taking six of the next seven. After the Pioneers pulled ahead 18-17, Lake Forest won the next four points and led the rest of the way. The Foresters were leading 24-23 when Drasler set up Wenson for the winning point.
The largest lead for either team in the second set was three points until Grinnell, trailing 21-20, rattled off five in a row to tie the match.
The Pioneers used a 5-0 run to erase a 10-6 deficit in set three and already led 17-16 before winning eight straight points to take a two-sets-to-one advantage in the match.
Lake Forest won the first five points of the fourth set and extended the lead to 10 points at 14-4. Grinnell gradually came back and trailed by just three at 24-21 when Pasiewicz set up Wenson for set point.
The Foresters never trailed in the fifth set. An 8-1 run early on put the visitors ahead 9-2 but Grinnell came back once again and trimmed the margin to two at 14-12 before a Pioneer service error finished off the match.
The weekend split for Lake Forest, which had fallen in three sets at #22 Cornell College Friday night, left the team at 9-12 overall and 3-2 in Midwest Conference play. Grinnell fell to 2-22 overall and 2-4 in the league.
The Foresters will travel to Wisconsin next weekend to take on Lawrence University Friday night at 7:00 and St. Norbert College at 1:00 Saturday afternoon.