Lake Forest College dropped a pair of three-set decisions at the 2015 Associated Colleges of the Midwest Volleyball Invitational at Manacelster College on Sunday. The Foresters fell 27-25, 28-26, 25-22 to St. Olaf College and 25-13, 25-12, 25-20 to Carleton College, despite a dozen blocks on the day by junior middle blocker Brittany Avonts.
Avonts had four blocks to go with her nine kills in the loss to St. Olaf. Junior outside hitter Paige Jespersen led the Foresters with a dozen kills and three aces and added eight digs in the contest. Senior libero Brianne Honda led the team with 15 digs and sophomore setter Lexi Kleva with 19 assists.
A 10-3 Forester run in the opening set turned a three-point deficit into a four-point advantage. The lead was four again at 23-19 when St. Olaf rattled off five straight points to regain the edge. Lake Forest fought off a pair of set points but the Oles were able to close it out 27-25.
The score was tied 15 times in the second set. Lake Forest owned another four-point lead at 22-18 but St. Olaf rallied to tie the score at 24. The Foresters once again escaped two set points but not a third, falling 28-26.
Lake Forest fell behind early in the third set but used a 7-0 run to grab a five-point advantage (14-9), the largest of the match for either team. The score was tied at every point from 15 to 21 before the Oles took four of the last five to clinch the victory.
Senior outside hitter Natalie Literski and freshman outside hitter Grace Larson tied for the team lead with five kills apiece against Carleton. Sophomore setter Tori Tinman had 10 assists, Honda 13 digs, and Avonts a career-high eight blocks, including four solos.
Carleton won 13 of the first 15 points in the match and cruised through the first two sets.
Three of Avonts' blocks in the match came during a 7-0 run that evened the score at 16 in the third set. The Knights, however, won six of the next seven points and led by no less than three the rest of the way.
The losses drop the Foresters' overall record on the season to 3-7 while St. Olaf improved to 7-3 and Carleton to 6-3.
Lake Forest will continue the season at the annual Red and Black Triangular next Friday night. The Foresters will take on North Central College at 6:00 and host Benedictine University at 8:00.
