The Forester volleyball team hosted and defeated Benedictine University Tuesday night, taking the first two sets 25-18 and the third 25-23.
Lake Forest committed just a dozen hitting errors and posted a .272 hitting percentage on the night. Senior Olivia Smith led the Foresters with 11 kills while senior Isabel Donnelly and freshman Mary Gegen added nine apiece. Gegen also had 10 digs, tying for the team lead with sophomore Izzi Visnjevac and sophomore Kelsey Akins. Donnelly finished with four blocks and is now alone in 10th place in program history with 186 in her career. Senior setter Allyson Richards saw exactly 40 percent of her sets turn into assists and finished with a career-high 30 in the contest.
The largest deficit the Foresters faced on the night was two points at 9-7 in the opening set. They responded with a 9-3 run and never trailed again.
After taking the first set 25-18, Lake Forest started the second with six straight points and eventually led by as many as 12 at 20-8. A pair of four-point runs by the Eagles down the stretch forced the Foresters to take a timeout but a kill by Smith ended the set with the teams matching their point total from the first.
Set three began with the home team taking 9 of the first 11 points. Benedictine battled back and eventually closed to within two points at 17-15. Back-to-back kills by Gegen started a four-point run by the Foresters but the Eagles won the next four to make the score 21-19. The teams split the next six points with all three of the home team's coming on kills by sophomore Madison Stevens. The next point went to the visitors, who then trailed by just one at 24-23, but a final kill from Smith closed out the match.
The victory evened the Foresters' record on the young season at 1-1 while Benedictine fell to 2-5.
Lake Forest will host a pair of matches against Knox College on Saturday with the first beginning at noon and the second at 3:00 p.m.
