Freshman setter Hannah Nauert finished with 23 assists and three aces but the Lake Forest College volleyball team was defeated 25-18, 25-21, 25-21 by visiting Wheaton College Tuesday night.
Nauert's assist total led all players in the match and her aces came on consecutive serves in the first set.
Junior outside hitter Grace Larson pounded out a match-high 14 kills, sophomore libero Beana Yanovskaya led the Foresters with a dozen digs, and freshman middle blocker Isabel Donnelly finished with a match-high three blocks.
Lake Forest won the first point of the night on a kill by Larson but lost the next seven to fall behind early in the opening set. The deficit reached 10 at 16-6 when another kill by Larson gave Nauert a chance to serve. She had three aces and Larson added two more kills during a 7-0 run that cut the lead to just three points. However, a six-point run by the Thunder just a few moments later all but clinched the first set for the visitors.
Set two was close throughout. The score was tied 14 times and neither team led by more than two until, with the Foresters ahead 21-20, Wheaton rattled off five straight points to close it out.
The visitors also won the first four points of the third set and never trailed again. Lake Forest was able to tie the score at six and faced just a one-point deficit several times, the last at 22-21. The Thunder, however, won the next three points and the match.
The Foresters fell to 5-7 on the season while Wheaton improved to 3-8.
Lake Forest will take on Carthage College, another team from the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, on the road Friday night at 7:00 before hosting Robert Morris University-Springfield at 11:00 a.m. and Concordia University Chicago at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.
