The Lake Forest College volleyball team split a pair of three-set matches at home on Saturday, defeating Ripon College 25-22, 26-24, 25-19 and falling 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 to Elmhurst College. Sophomore Cori Cooper and senior Mandi Mulliner combined for 11 kills, four aces, and five blocks in the Midwest Conference victory over Ripon.

The Foresters are now 11-13 overall and 4-2 in league play. Ripon also fell in three sets to Elmhurst and is now 11-15 on the year. Elmhurst raised its record to 16-9.

Cooper and Mulliner shared team-high honors with 11 kills apiece against Ripon. Cooper also served up three aces and Mulliner led the squad with three blocks, including two solos. Senior Deena Blanchard's 37 assists were a season-high for a three-set match and sophomore Tia Rupnik led the team with 20 digs.

The Foresters committed a service error and six consecutive attack errors to fall behind 17-13 in the first set. After a timeout, the home team outscored the Red Hawks 12-5 to take the set. Cooper had five kills and a pair of aces in the set.

There were 18 ties, including at every point from 17 through 24, in the second set. The Foresters faced set point at 24-23 before a Ripon service error, Cooper's fifth kills of the set, and a Red Hawk attack error.

A 12-1 Lake Forest run in the third set turned a 7-6 deifict into an 18-8 advantage. Ripon trimmed the margin to four at 20-16 and three at 22-19 before a service error and kills by sophomores Molly McCloskey and Kristen Braun closed out the match.

Sophomore Megan Trubich led the Foresters with 10 kills against Elmhurst and Cooper added nine. Blanchard had 27 assists and Rupnik finished with 23 digs.

The Bluejays led for most of the first set but the Foresters kept it close and trailed by just one (19-18) before a 6-2 run by the visitors gave them the set. McCloskey had five kills and Trubich served up a pair of aces.

Lake Forest led by as many as eight points (13-5) in set two and had a 19-14 advantage before surrendering nine points in a row and being unable to come back.

Elmhurst led by as many as four points early in the third set before the Foresters scored eight of 10 points to take a 14-12 advantage. The score was tied at 15, 16, 17, and 18 before the Bluejays pulled away and closed out the match, despite seven kills by Trunich, 13 assists, by Blanchard, and 10 digs by Rupnik in the set.

Lake Forest will resume league play Tuesday night at home against Carroll University. The match will begin at 7:00 p.m. and a live video webcast will be available at www.pennatlantic.com.