The Lake Forest College volleyball team hosted and defeated Wheaton College 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 Tuesday night.
The Foresters used a balanced offensive attack with sophomore Riley Stapley pounding out a career-high seven kills, classmate Rebekkah De Kok and junior Grace Franz matching that total, and senior Madison Stevens and junior Mary Gegen adding six apiece. Stapley had the highest hitting percentage of the group at .333.
It was a good night for the Lake Forest setters with freshman Lilly Robinson recording 14 assists and a season-high five aces and sophomore Juli Barrientos finishing with 11 assists and two aces.
Senior Izzi Visnjevac led the home team and tied for match-high honors with 14 digs.
With the score tied 9-9, the Foresters took control of the opening set with a seven-point run. Wheaton closed to within five at 20-15 but Lake Forest responded with four in a row and a kill by Franz eventually closed it out. De Kok recorded five kills and Franz four in the set.
Lake Forest were ahead in set two until Wheaton won nine of 10 points to take a 20-18 lead. The Foresters then rattled off seven straight points, the last on Stapley's team-high fourth kill of the set.
The home team took the first three points in set three and led the rest of the way. The margin grew to as many as 10 points at 19-9 and the visitors got no closer than six the rest of the way. De Kok finished off the match with a kill.
The Foresters improved to 4-9 on the season while Wheaton fell to 6-4.
Lake Forest will host a triangular on Friday and take on Benedictine University at 3:30 p.m. and Elmhurst University at 7:30 p.m.
