Senior Grace Larson led all players in the match with 26 kills and five blocks to help lead the Lake Forest College volleyball team to a 26-24, 26-24, 22-25, 25-18 victory over visiting Grinnell College Friday night.
Larson's total is a new program record for a four-set match and the 51 assists on the night by freshman Olivia Rhodes is the most by a Forester in 13 seasons. Larson and Rhodes also reached double figures in digs with 18 and 11, respectively, while senior Emily Witz tallied a match-high 25 in that category.
There were 15 ties and seven lead changes and neither team led by more than two points in the opening set. With the Foresters trailing 24-23, a Larson block tied the score and prevented the Pioneers form taking the set. Rhodes followed with an ace and then set up a kill by Larson to end it.
Lake Forest led set two by four points early on and then twice by five at 18-13 and 19-14. The visitors, however, won 10 of the next 13 points and was on the verge of taking the set at 24-22. Kills by Larson and Donnelly tied the score and Donnelly connected on another kill to finish off the set.
The Foresters led the third set 21-20 before Grinnell went on a 5-1 run to finish it off and force a fourth set.
Set four was tied at four when the home team began a 9-1 run and maintained a lead of at least three points the rest of the way. After Larson's last kill of the night made the score 23-17, Rhodes committed a service error before setting up kills by sophomore Olivia Drevs and junior Hannah Hornacek to secure the victory.
Lake Forest improved to 9-11 overall and 2-0 in Midwest Conference play this season while the Pioneers fell to 11-12 overall and 2-1 in the league.
The Foresters will continue conference play against visiting Cornell College Saturday afternoon at 1:00.