Senior Olivia Rhodes filled up the stat sheet with seven kills, 11 digs, two aces, and a team-high 22 assists and four blocks but Lake Forest was defeated 25-20, 21-25, 28-26, 25-21 by Wheaton College at home Wednesday night.
Rhodes also led the Foresters with 11.5 points on the night while junior Isabel Donnelly and freshman Izzi Visnjevac paced the squad with 10 kills and 22 digs, respectively. Juniors Olivia Smith and Olivia Drevs were next on the team in kills with nine apiece while junior Hannah Nauert and senior Allison Trutna joined Visnjevac and Rhodes in double figures with 12 and 10 digs, respectively.
The Foresters never led in the opening set. After the home team came back and tied the score at 17, the Thunder won the next four points and finished off the set.
Lake Forest broke a 9-9 tie in set two with eight straight points. Wheaton closed to within four but the margin soon returned to eight points at 24-16. The visitors fought off the first five set point opportunities before Rhodes set up a kill by Drevs to close it out.
There were 16 ties and eight lead changes in the third set. The Foresters fought off three set points and Wheaton one before the Thunder finished it off.
Lake Forest led set four by four points at 15-11 before a 7-1 run by Wheaton gave the visitors a lead they would not relinquish. The margin fluctuated between one and four points the rest of the way.
The loss dropped the Foresters' record on the season to 6-10 while Wheaton improved to 12-5.
Lake Forest will resume Midwest Conference play in Iowa this weekend, playing at Grinnell College at 7:00 Friday night and at Cornell College the following afternoon at 1:00.