Lake Forest College is competing in the 2015 Associated Colleges of the Midwest Volleyball Invitational at Macalester College this weekend and was defeated twice on Friday. The Foresters fell 25-16, 25-12, 28-26 to Luther College and 27-25, 25-27, 25-23, 25-13 to Macalester. Sophomore setter Lexi Kleva tallied a career-high 49 assists in the second match of the day.
Kleva also had a dozen assists and one of the Foresters' four aces against Luther. Junior middle blocker Brittany Avonts led the team with six kills and junior outsode hitter Paige Jespersen with nine digs. Senior right side hitter Bailey Everhart was part of four of the squad's five blocks in the contest.
Luther won the first three points and jumped out to a 13-4 advantage in the first set. The margin reached a dozen points at 21-9 before a 6-2 Forester run trimmed it to eight. The Norse took two of the next three points to win the set.
The Foresters won the first point before dropping eight of the next nine in set two. Already leading 14-10, Luther won 10 straight points to put the set out of reach.
Lake Forest jumped out to a 7-1 advantage in the third set and led 12-5 before an 11-point run by the Norse put them on top. Trailing 21-15, the Foresters rallied and eventually took a 25-24 lead. Luther, however, fought off set point and took four of the next five points to clinch the match and raise its record on the season to 2-4.
Avonts led the team with a season-high 17 kills against Macalester. She committed just two attack errors in 29 attempts for a .517 hitting percentage in the contest. Jespersen also set a new season-high in kills with 16 and added two aces and a team-high 16 digs for her fourth double-double of the year. Kleva's 49 assists were more than twice her previous career-high and she also chipped in with seven digs. Senior libero Brianne Honda was second on the team in digs with 12 and sophomore right side hitter Natalie Olson led the team with three blocks.
The score was tied 31 times and neither team led by more than three points in the first two sets. The Foresters fought off a pair of set points in the first before falling 27-25. Macalester trailed 24-21 in the second before winning four points in a row. Back-to-back kills by Jespersen put Lake Forest back on top and a solo block by Olson evened the match at one set apiece.
The Scots jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the third but a 12-3 Forester run later in the set gave the visitors a 20-17 advantage. Trailing 21-18, Macalester took six of the next seven points and then closed out the set.
The home team won 10 of 11 points to begin the fourth set and the Foresters' comeback effort got them no closer than five points the rest of the way. Macalester pulled away and improved to 8-1 on the year.
After taking Saturday off, Lake Forest will begin play on Sunday with a 3-5 record on the season. The team will take on St. Olaf College at 9:00 in the morning and Carleton College afterwards at 11:00.
