The Lake Forest College volleyball team hosted and defeated Grinnell College 25-18, 25-9, 25-13 Friday evening. Forester sophomore Brittany Avonts led all players in the matc with a dozen kills and posted a .400 hitting percentage on the night.
Avonts entered the week ranked 11th in the nation with a .378 hitting percentage and raised it a point on Friday to .379. She recorded seven of her 12 kills on the night in the third set.
Fellow sophomore Paige Jespersen was the next Forester with nine kills and she tied for team-high honors with three aces and 12 digs. Senior setter Torie Pasiewicz, who tallied 30 assists in the match, also had three aces and 12 digs and is just one dig shy of 1,000 for her career. Junior Erin Sully matched Jespersen and Pasiewicz with three aces and classmate Brianne tied them with 12 digs.
The score in the first set was tied 10 times, the last at 12-12. Lake Forest won the next four points and led by at least two the rest of the way. Leading 19-17, the Foresters closed out the set on a 6-1 run.
Momentum continued to be in the home team's favor throughout the second set. The Foresters jumped out to an 11-2 lead and lost consecutive points just once in the set. Already leading 15-7, seven straight points, including three on Pasiewicz aces, essentially clinched the set for Lake Forest.
The Foresters won the first three points of the third set and led the rest of the way, although the Pioneers kept it close for a while. Leading 15-11, Lake Forest claimed nine of the next 10 points and then finished off the set with a kill by Avonts.
Lake Forest is now 11-11 overall this season and a perfect 5-0 in Midwest Conference play. The team's seven-match winning streak ties the eighth-longest run in program history and the longest since the 2003 team rattled off 14 straight wins. Grinnell fell to 6-16 overall and 1-4 in the league.
The Foresters will host Cornell College, the only other team without a loss in MWC play, tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.