Senior Natalie Olson served up seven aces, including three in a row to end the match, in the Forester volleyball team's 24-26, 25-16, 25-23, 25-12 victory over Knox College at home on Saturday.
Olson entered the match after Knox won the first set and her first ace was the 25th and final point of set two. The Prairie Fire led the third set 20-16 before a five-point Forester run that included a pair of Olson aces. After the visitors tied the score at 21, Lake Forest won the next three points and later closed out the set on a kill by freshman outside hitter Olivia Smith. With set four tied at seven, the home team won nine of the next 10 points to pull away. The Forester lead was 18-11 before Olson capped off a 7-1 run with three straight aces to finish off the match.
Smith led Lake Forest and matched her career-high with 14 kills while fellow freshman outside hitter Olivia Grimmer reached double figures in that category for the third consecutive contest with 12. Senior Maxie Mottlowitz and freshman Isabel Donnelly were next on the team with nine kills apiece and Mottlowitz led all players on the afternoon with six blocks, including four solos. She now has 23 blocks in the last four matches. Freshman setter Hannah Nauert set season-highs with 39 assists and 17 digs while junior libero Emily Witz tallied 23 digs for the third time in the last five matches.
A victory in the team's Midwest Conference opener pulled Lake Forest back to within a game of .500 at 8-9 overall this season. Knox fell to 9-10 overall and 1-1 in league play.
The Foresters will continue their conference schedule in Iowa next weekend, playing at Cornell College Friday night at 7:00 and Grinnell College at 1:00 Saturday afternoon.
