The Lake Forest College volleyball team fell in four sets to visiting North Central College in non-conference action Friday night.
It was the final home match of the season for the Foresters, who honored seniors Kaity Mueller and Hannah Kobienia before the contest.
The match itself did not begin weil for the home team as North Central won the first nine points of the night. After four in a row for Lake Forest, the Cardinals rattled off seven straight points to take a commanding 16-4 lead. The Foresters fought off seven set points before falling 25-18.
There were eight ties in set two, the last at 15. North Central regained the lead with three consecutive points and Lake Forest was unable to get any closer than one the rest of the way.
The Foresters led by as many as five points early in set three but later found themselves needing to overcome a 23-19 deficit to extend the match. Four straight points by the home team tied the score and, after the Cardinals went back on top and served for the match, three more for Lake Forest finished off the set 26-24 in favor of the Foresters.
Both teams had a 5-0 run early in the fourth set and North Central won six consecutive points later on to take a 14-9 lead. Lake Forest closed to within two at 20-18 but the visitors won five of the next six points and the match.
Lake Forest sophomore Mary Gegen led all players in the contest with 18 kills and her hitting percentage on the night was .364. Junior Madison Stevens was next on the team with eight kills while classmate Haley Bryant added seven.
Freshman setter Juli Barrientos finished with 30 assists and led the home team with 16 digs. Junior Izzi Visnjevac and freshman Rebekkah De Kok also reached double figures in digs with 13 and 10, respectively, and De Kok led the Foresters with four aces. Bryant and Kobienia shared team-high honors in blocks with four apiece.
The non-conference loss dropped Lake Forest's overall record on the season to 7-16 while the Cardinals evened their mark at 7-7.
The Foresters take their 3-2 Midwest Conference record on the road next weekend and play at Illinois College Friday night and Knox College Saturday afternoon.
