Junior outside hitter Grace Larson had 20 kills on the night, including three during the Lake Forest College volleyball team's 6-0 run to close out an 18-25, 25-22, 25-19, 11-25, 15-13 victory at Dominican University on Saturday.
It was the highest kill total for a Forester this season and the sixth career 20-kill performance for Larson. Six of them came in the final set.
Freshman middle blocker Isabel Donnelly was next on the team with 11 kills and she added a pair of aces. Sophomore libero Beana Yanovskaya led the visitors with 13 digs, senior right side hitter Maxie Mottlowitz with six blocks, and freshman setter Hannah Nauert with a career-high 34 assists.
The score was close for most of the opening set. Neither team led by more than four until a four-point run by the Stars made the score 24-17. After a kill by Larson, the home team finished off the set.
Set two was close as well, with niether team leading by more than three points until five in a row by Dominican turned a one-point deficit into a lead of four. The Foresters won the next four points to tie the score at 17. Another four-point run gave the visitors a 22-20 lead and they soon closed out the set on a kill by freshman outside hitter Olivia Smith.
The Foresters won the first nine points of set three and later led by as many as 10. Dominican eventually closed to within five at 22-17 and again at 24-19 before a kill by Larson gave Lake Forest a two-sets-to-one advantage.
Larson started the fourth set with a kill but the Stars won nine of the next 10 points. A 6-0 run by Dominican later in the set made the score 20-7 and the home team easily finished off the set to tie the match at two sets apiece.
Lake Forest fell behind 6-3 and then 9-5 in set five before winning three points in a row. After Dominican took four of the next five points to grab a 13-9 lead, a Larson kill and block by Mottlowitz and sophomore right side hitter Hannah Hornacek cut the deficit in half. After a timeout by the Stars, back-to-back kills by Larson tied the score and forced the home team's coach to call her other timeout. Consecutive attack error by the Stars gave the Foresters the set and the match.
Lake Forest improved to 5-6 on the season while Dominican fell to 3-7.
The Foresters' next match will be Tuesday night at home against Wheaton College. The contest will begin at 7:00.