Sophomore outside hitter Grace Larson pounded out 17 kills but the Lake Forest College volleyball team was defeated 27-25, 25-20, 25-17 at Wheaton College in non-conference play Tuesday night.

Larson had just four errors in 34 attempts for a .382 hitting percentage on the night.

Senior outside hitter Paige Jespersen and senior libero Briahna Havis tied for team-high honors with 12 digs apiece and junior setter Lexi Kleva tallied 37 assists.

The Foresters fell behind 9-3 in the opening set but battled back and led by one several times, the last at 20-19. The visitors later fought off three set points before finally dropping it 27-25.

Lake Forest won the first three points of set two and led 6-2 before the Thunder went on an 8-1 run and never trailed again. The home team gradually pulled away and took the set 25-20.

Five consecutive Wheaton points early in the third set gave the home team the lead for good. A 6-1 Thunder run later in the set put it out of reach and they finished off the match with back-to-back kills.

The loss drops the Foresters record on the season to 3-6 while Wheaton improved to 3-7.

Lake Forest will host the annual Red and Black Triangular on Friday. After North Central College and Benedictine University face off at 4:00 p.m., the Foresters will take on North Central at 6:00 and Benedictine at 8:00.