Foresters Split Final Two Matches at ACM Tournament

Photo by Matt Demirs
Photo by Matt Demirs

The Lake Forest College volleyball team split a pair of matches at the Associated College's of the Midwest Tournament on Sunday, falling to St. Olaf College in three sets and defeating Macalester College in four. Sophomore Isabel Donnelly was named to the all-tournament team.

Junior Hannah Hornacek led the Foresters with 10 kills against St. Olaf. She also had just one attack error in 21 attempts for a .429 hitting percentage. Donnelly was not far behind with six kills and a .278 hitting percentage. Junior Olivia Rhodes paced the team with 19 assists and a pair of aces and senior Morgan Malte matched Hornacek with a team-high three blocks. Senior libero Emily Witz was the only played on the squad in double figures in digs with 10.

St. Olaf broke a 5-5 tie in the opening set with a 10-point run. After falling behind by 12, Lake Forest closed back to within four at 22-18 but dropped the next three points and the set.

The Foresters won the first five point of set two but the Oles took seven of the next nine to pull even. The score was tied four more times, the last at 15, before St. Olaf seized control and pulled away for another 25-18 victory. 

The Oles won the first two points of the third set and led throughout. The margin was just one at 14-13 before an 11-4 St. Olaf run closed out the match.

The Foresters racked up 43 kills against Macalester, including a team-high 11 from sophomore Olivia Smith. Hornacek was next on the team with eight while Donnelly and Malte added seven apiece. Sophomore Hannah Nauert finished with a match-high 35 assists and added a dozen digs. Witz led Lake Forest with 15 digs, Donnelly with four aces, and Malte with four blocks.

Set one was tied 15 times and neither team led by more than four. With the score 26-26, the Foresters took the lead on a bad set by the Macs and won the set 28-26 on a kill by Hornacek.

After falling behind by seven (13-6) in set two, Lake Forest won 13 of 16 points to take a three-point lead. Macalester closed back to within a point at 22-21 and again at 23-22 before committing a service error, setting up another set-clinching kill by Hornacek.

Lake Forest led 12-11 in set three before dropping nine of 10 points. The Foresters eventually pulled back to within five at 24-19 before the Macs took the set.

The Foresters dropped consecutive points just once in the fourth and final set while recording three runs of at least four points themselves. Donnelly's final ace of the match made the score 23-10 and a pair of Macalester attack errors closed it out.

Lake Forest is now 3-6 on the season while St. Olaf improved to 7-1 and Macalester fell to 4-4.

The Foresters will return home to face visiting Alverno College Tuesday night at 7:00.