Contact: Brock Reisler, Assistant Executive Director, breisler@midwestconference.org
HILBERT, Wisconsin – Tuesday night’s Midwest Conference Volleyball Tournament saw one host hold serve and one road team pick up the upset as Illinois College and Lake Forest College earned quarterfinal victories.
No. 6 Lake Forest defeated No. 3 Grinnell College 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-21), while No. 4 Illinois College swept No. 5 Monmouth College 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 27-25).
Grinnell started hot in the first semifinal - racing out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set - but Lake Forest (12-13) chipped away slowly, going on a 5-0 spurt of its own to grab a 22-18 lead late in the set. Grinnell cut the deficit to one on multiple occasions, but a kill by L’Rae White gave the Foresters set one.
LFC carried that momentum into the second set, scoring eight of the first nine points to lead 8-1. The Foresters’ lead extended to eight in the set, as Grinnell was never able to climb closer than four. Lake Forest scored four of the final six points in the frame to win comfortably 25-19.
Grinnell scored the first two points of set three, but Lake Forest countered with 10 of the next 14 to lead 10-6. Trailing 12-7, the Pioneers ripped off six consecutive points to pull in front 13-12 as the sides went back and forth. From there, the set featured six ties and neither team led by more than three points until the end of the match when LFC scored four of the final five points to seal the win.
White had a team-high 13 kills for LFC, while Lilly Robinson had a match-high 35 assists and Alisa Kevric scooped up 15 digs.
Grinnell wraps up its season 11-15. Keira Sullivan led the Pioneers with a match-high 14 kills. Kylie-Ann Smith recorded 16 assists and Gracie Lim led all players with 18 digs.
In the second semifinal, Illinois College (14-11) opened the match on a 5-0 run and led by as many as seven in the frame. Monmouth would not go away though, shaving its deficit to 17-16 following an IC attack error. However, the late stages of the set belonged to the Lady Blues - from there, IC scored eight of the final 10 points to claim the opening set.
Set two was close throughout, as neither team led by more than four until a Monmouth service error gave IC a 19-14 lead. The Lady Blues kept the Fighting Scots at bay after surrendering the next three points, scoring six of the last seven points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
IC again started strong in set three, taking the early 5-0 edge and growing its lead to nine at 14-5. However, Monmouth battled back and, with the help of four runs of three points each, took a 24-23 lead. IC fended off multiple set points and ended up winning the set 27-25 with a 3-0 run to end the match.
Delani Klaas led IC with 18 kills, while Kennedy Ostendorf totaled 42 assists and Mady Salisbury recorded 24 digs.
Monmouth ends its season 9-17. Melina Teunis had a team-high six kills, while Isa Hughes (16 assists) and Kami Barth (eight digs) led the Fighting Scots in those respective categories.
Lake Forest advances to play second-seeded Lawrence University on Friday, November 13 at 4:30 p.m. Illinois College now prepares for top-seeded Cornell College on Friday at 7 p.m. Both games on Friday, as well as Saturday’s tournament final, will be held at Cornell.