The Lake Forest College volleyball team was defeated in four sets by visiting Monmouth College and Kalamazoo College on Saturday. Sophomore Cori Cooper led the home team with 34 kills and 40 digs on the day.
Cooper pounded out a match-high 20 kills and added 16 digs against Monmouth. Fellow sophomore Molly McCloskey also recorded a double-double with 15 kills and 15 digs. Senior Deena Blanchard finished with 38 assists, sophomore Tia Rupnik had a team-high 18 digs, and senior Mandi Mulliner served up three aces.
The Foresters scored the first three points of the match before a 10-1 run by the Fighting Scots put the visitors ahead to stay. The home team closed to within a point at 14-13 but Monmouth gradually pulled away to take the first set 25-17. McCloskey led Lake Forest with five kills in the set.
Blanchard served five times to begin the second set but the Foresters eventually trailed 14-12. Lake Forest won the next six points, however, to regain the lead. After Monmouth battled back to tie the score at 23, McCloskey recorded a kill and a ball-handling error by the visitors gave the Foresters a 25-23 victory. Rupnik recorded 10 digs in the set.
The Scots took the early lead in set three before a 13-4 run by the Foresters turned a 9-4 deficit into a 17-13 advantage. Monmouth, however, scored the next eight points to regain the advantage. Lake Forest held off three set points but eventually fell 25-22. Cooper led the home team with four kills and Mulliner had three aces in the set.
Neither team led by more than three points during set four, which was tied at 7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, and 23 before Monmouth scored twice to close out the match. Cooper's nine kills and two aces accounted for 11 of the Foresters' points and Blanchard recorded 13 assists in the set.
McCloskey and Cooper tied for team-high honors with 14 kills apiece against Kalamazoo. Cooper also led the home team with 24 digs and McCloskey was next with 18. Blanchard had 41 assists and Mulliner finished with five blocks, including three solos.
Kalamazoo jumped out to a 16-9 advantage in the first set and the visitors led by seven again at 23-16 when a block my Mulliner and McCloskey started a 7-0 run by the Foresters. The teams then traded kills, making the score 24-24, before a pair of Hornet points closed out the set. McCloskey's five kills led Lake Forest.
The visitors led set two by as many as six points four times, including 24-18. The Foresters fought off four consecutive set points before the Hornets finally got the kill they needed to win the set. McCloskey, Cooper, and Rupnik combined for 21 digs in the set.
Lake Forest trailed 20-18 and were just five points from losing the match in set three when a 7-2 Forester run gave the home team a 25-22 victory in the set and kept the match alive. Cooper led the Foresters with five kills and six digs and Blanchard had 14 assists in the set.
Kalamazoo started the fourth set with five straight points, continued to pull away, and finished it on a 6-1 run. The final score of the set was 25-11.
The Foresters' only match next week will be Wednesday night at Trinity International University. It will begin at 7:00 p.m.
