Sophomore libero Beana Yanovskaya recorded a career-high 23 digs to help lead the Forester volleyball team to a 25-20, 25-20, 19-25, 25-16 victory over Finlandia University on Saturday. Lake Forest had fallen 25-15, 25-20, 25-16 to Aurora University earlier in the day after also splitting a pair of matches at the Forester Invitational on Friday.
Yanovskaya tied with junior outside hitter with a dozen digs against Aurora. Larson also led the Foresters with nine kills in the contest. Freshman setter Hannah Nauert reached double figures with 10 digs wihle senior setter Lexi Kleva led the team with 10 assists.
Aurora broke a 3-3 tie early with five straight points early in the opening set and the Foresters were unable to come back. The Spartans lost consecutive points just three times in the set, which they won by 10.
Lake Forest won the first four points of set two but the visitors quickly came back and tied the score at four. The Foresters later led 15-13 but five points in a row for Aurora gave the Spartans a lead they would not relinquish in the set.
With eight straight points, Aurora took control early in the third set and cruised to the victory.
Larson finished with 13 kills and 12 more digs against Finlandia for her third double-double of the weekend. Freshman outside hitter Olivia Grimmer added 10 kills and Nauert led the squad with 20 assists. In addition to her 23 digs, Yanovskaya added a team-high three aces to her stat line.
Finlandia led by as many as five points early in the first set but a 14-4 run by the Foresters gave them the five-point edge. The margin remained at least three for the rest of the set, which Lake Forest senior outside hitter Maxie Mottlowitz finished off with a block.
The home team jumped out to a six-point lead early in the second set but the Lions closed to within one at 10-9. The lead fluctuated between two and five points for the rest of the set, which was finished off by a kill by freshman middle blocker Isabel Donnelly.
The Foresters won the first seven points but lost the next 10 in set three. Finlandia pulled ahead by five, had the lead shrink to one, and then finished off the set with a 8-2 run.
The fourth set was tied at four before Lake Forest pulled away with a six-point run. Finlandia got no closer than five the rest of the way.
Larson was named to the seven-player Forester All-Tournament Team after finishing the four matches with 48 kills and 56 digs.
Lake Forest will host Concordia University Wisconsin Tuesday night at 7:00.
