Junior Olivia Rhodes finished with 45 assists, a dozen digs, and three aces to help lead the Lake Forest College volleyball team to a 25-21, 25-23, 24-26, 25-18 victory at Lawrence University Friday night.
Rhodes surpassed 40 kills for the sixth time in the last eight matches and reached double figures in digs for the fourth consecutive contest.
Lake Forest was also led by senior Grace Larson's 23 kills and classmate Emily Witz's 18 digs. Both players added a pair of aces and Larson chipped in with 15 digs for her 11th double-double of the year. Sophomore Isabel Donnelly was second on the squad in kills with nine and two other Foresters had five.
A 6-0 run early in the opening set gave the visitors a 10-5 lead and the margin eventually reached nine at 17-8. The Vikings battled back, however, and five straight points cut the Forester advantage to just two at 22-20. Lake Forest held off the rally, however, and took the set 25-21.
Set two was similar to the first, with the Foresters pulling ahead by six early and Lawrence using another 5-0 run to tie the score at 19. A kill by Larson and three Viking attack errors made it 23-19 and the visitors' first opportunity at set point came at 24-21. Lawrence won the next two points before a kill by Donnelly finished it off.
The third set featured 16 ties, including one at each point from 16 to 24, and eight lead changes. After a kill by Lake Forest junior Hannah Hornacek knotted the score at 24, a pair of Forester attack errors forced a fourth set.
Lake Forest pulled ahead for good at 8-7 in the final set and gradually pulled away. The lead grew to eight at 21-13 before the Vikings cut it in half with four points in a row. With her team ahead 22-18, Rhodes set up a pair of kills by Larson before finishing off the match with one of her own.
The Foresters are now 10-12 overall and 3-1 in Midwest Conference play this season. Lawrence fell to 3-20 overall and 2-4 in the league.
Lake Forest will make the short drive from Appleton, Wisconsin, to De Pere for Saturday's 1:00 contest at St. Norbert College.