The Forester volleyball team was edged out 25-17, 22-25, 25-13, 23-25, 17-15 by North Central College before dropping a 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 decision to host Benedictine University Friday night in the annual Red and Black Triangular. Lake Forest tied a program record with 17 blocks in the first match of the evening.
The school record for blocks in a match was set by the 1997 Foresters against Capital University and tied by the 2013 team against Wisconsin Lutheran College. Junior middle blocker Brittany Avonts was part of a career-high 10 of the blocks as she became just the fourth player in program history to reach double figures in that category. Junior outside hitter Maxie Mottlowitz finished with seven, including a solo, and freshman outside hitter Grace Larson had five.
Avonts also led the Foresters with 14 kills and three aces in the contest and junior outside hitter Paige Jespersen recorded 11 kills and 10 digs for her sixth double-double of the year. Junior defensive specialist Briahna Havis tallied a team-high 12 digs and senior libero Brianne Honda added 11. Sophomore setters Lexi Kleva and Tori Tinman finished with 22 and 19 assists, respectively.
Leading 9-7, Lake Forest lost five straight points in the opening set and never caught up.
The Foresters also fell behind 4-0 in the set two before a kill by Avonts put them on the scoreboard. Lake Forest quickly tied the score at five and eventually took its first lead of the set at 13-12. The set was tied again at 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 before back-to-back points by the Foresters gave them the lead for good. Tinman assisted Molltowitz on set point.
Lake Forest had a 3-2 lead early in the third set but was outscored 23-10 the rest of the way.
The lead changed hands three times early in the fourth set and the score was eventually tied at 16 before the Foresters went ahead for good. The Cardinals fought off a pair of set points before Mottlowitz and Avonts closed it out with a block.
North Central led the fifth and final set 12-7 but the Foresters took five of the next six points to trim the deficit to one. After an attack error by Lake Forest set up match point for the Cardinals, their own attack error and an Avonts ace tied the score at 14. A kill by Jespersen knotted the score again at 15 but North Central won the next two points to take the match and improve to 11-2 on the year.
Jespersen led Lake Forest with seven kills against Benedictine and Avonts was next with six. Honda was the only player on the team to reach double figures in any statistical category, finished the contest with 14 digs.
The Foresters won seven straight points early to take a 9-6 lead early in the first set. The Eagles, however, outscored the visitors 19-8 the rest of the way to win the opening set.
Lake Forest led 11-10 in set two but a 10-1 run by Benedictine later in the set gave the home team control once again.
A 15-5 Benedictine run in the third set turned the Foresters' 8-4 lead into a six-point deficit. Lake Forest was unable to get any close than three points the rest of the way as the Eagles closed out the set and match and raised their record on the season to 6-5.
The Foresters are now 3-9 on the year and will play in another triangular at Concordia University Wisconsin on Saturday. Lake Forest will take on Maranatha Bible College at 1:00 in the afternoon and the hosts at 3:00.
