Freshman Haley Bryant's team-high 11 kills were not enough Wednesday night as Lake Forest was defeated 25-16 29-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-7 by visiting Elmhurst College.
Bryant has now reached double figures in kills four times this season and she was the only Forester with 10 or more on Wednesday. Fellow freshman Madison Stevens and junior Olivia Drevs were next on the squad with eight apiece.
Freshman libero Izzi Visnjevac led Lake Forest and matched her career-high with 31 digs while senior Olivia Rhodes was next with 15 to go with a team-high 22 assists. The Foresters also got two aces apiece from Bryant and junior Hannah Nauert, their other setter who had 15 assists, and junior Isabel Donnelly chipped in with four blocks.
After winning the first point of the night, Lake Forest dropped the next five and never caught up in set one. After closing to within one at 14-13, the home team was outscored 11-3 the rest of the way.
The second set was tied at 14 before the Foresters rattled off four straight points and led by at least three the rest of the way.
Another four-point run gave Lake Forest a 15-10 lead in set three but the Bluejays battled back and eventually took a 23-22 lead. A kill by Drevs tied the score, an Elmhurst attack error returned the lead to the Foresters, and another kill by Drevs finished off the set.
Lake Forest erased an early five-point deficit in the fourth set and tied the score at 11. Elmhurst pulled back ahead and then added to the lead with six straight points, making the score 22-14. The Foresters won five points in a row and twice closed to within two but could not complete the comeback.
The visitors controlled set five from the beginning, jumping out to a 7-2 advantage and not allowing Lake Forest to get any closer than three points the rest of the way.
The loss dropped the Foresters back under the .500 mark at 6-7 while Elmhurst improved to 4-7.
Lake Forest will host Benedictine University Friday night at 7:00.
