The Lake Forest College volleyball team dropped a four-set decision to host Illinois Institute of Technology before prevailing in three over Central College on Saturday.
Junior Mary Gegen led the Foresters with seven kills while classmate Grace Franz added six against Illinois Tech. Senior libero Izzi Visnjevac finished with a team-high 11 digs and freshman Lilly Robinson matched that total in assists.
The Foresters trailed by as many as nine in the opening set and faced a 22-16 deficit before rattling off seven straight points. After the Scarlet Hawks tied the score at 24, back-to-back points for the visitors closed out the set.
Illinois Tech closed out set two with a 10-2 run and took it 25-12. The home team also won four of the final five points to come out on top 25-20 in set three and led by as many as 15 en route to another 25-12 triumph in set four.
Lake Forest served up 13 aces, including four by Franz and three by Robinson, against Central. Franz and Gegen led the Foresters with nine kills apiece, sophomore Juli Barrientos tallied a team-high 10 digs, and Robinson dished out nine assists.
Despite winning the first five points and lead the first set by as many as six, the Foresters eventually fell behind 19-18 after a five-point Central run. It was the first of six lead changes, the last during a three-point run by Lake Forest to win the set 25-23.
Lake Forest trailed by as many as five points in set two but came back and finally took the lead at 20-19. The score was tied at 24 before a kill and an ace by Franz closed out the set.
An 8-1 Forester run in the third set gave the team an 18-9 lead. The Dutch closed back to within three at 20-17 and again at 23-20 before kills by junior Hollan Smits and Franz finished off the match.
Lake Forest is now 3-9 on the season and will host Wheaton College Tuesday night at 7:00.
