The Lake Forest College volleyball team prevailed 25-21, 25-15, 19-25, 25-20 at Ripon College in its regular season finale Friday night. The victory clinched the fourth and final seed in next weekend's Midwest Conference Tournament for the Foresters, who were led by junior Paige Jespersen's 13 kills on the night.
Ripon had closed to within three points of the Foresters in the fourth set when Jespersen closed out the match with back-to-back kills. Seven of her kills on the night, including six in the final set, came after the team's leader in that category left the court with a injury late in the third. Jespersen also had nine digs and a pair of aces in the match.
Junior K.C. Wenson also stepped up on offense for the Foresters, pounding out a season-high 12 kills with a .409 hitting percentage. She also tied Avonts for team-high honors with four blocks. Junior Erin Sully added nine kills and Avonts seven for Lake Forest.
The Foresters served up 13 aces on the night, the team's second-highest total of the season. Senior Taylor Bradbury and junior Brianne Honda led the way with three apiece while Sully, Jespersen, and freshman Rebecca Lynch added two apiece.
Senior Torie Pasiewicz finished the contest with 41 assists and a team-high 11 digs. She passed Kendra Casey (2003-06) for third place in program history with 2,476 assists in her career.
Six straight points by the Lake Forest gave the visitors a 12-6 lead in the opening set. Ripon pulled back to within a point four times, the last at 19-18, before the Foresters won four of five points to pull away. A kill by Pasiewicz closed it out.
A pair of four-point runs gave the Foresters a 14-9 lead in the second set and five consecutive Lake Forest points a few moments later made the score 19-12. The visitors continued to pull away and a Sully kill finished off the set.
A 6-1 run broke an 8-8 tie and gave the Red Hawks the lead for good in the third set. Avonts was injured during a 9-3 Ripon run later in the set and the home team held on to avoid a sweep.
The Foresters won the first two points and led throught set four. After jumping out to a 9-3 advantage, the visitors led by between three and seven until three straight points by the home team made the score 23-20. After a timeout, Jespersen recorded back-to-back kills to close out the match.
Lake Forest finished the regular season 13-14 overall and 7-3 in MWC play. Ripon fell to 15-11 overall and 5-4 in the league with one more match scheduled for Saturday.
The Foresters will face conference champion and host Cornell College in the MWC Tournament semifinals next Friday night at 7:00. The final will take place Saturday afternoon at 1:00 with the winner advancing to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
