The Lake Forest College volleyball team defeated Ripon College 25-18, 18-25, 25-16, 25-20 Friday night in the Midwest Conference opener for both programs. It was also the Foresters' first contest in the newly-renovated Sports and Recreation Center varsity gym.
A boisterous crown gave the home team a lift early in the contest as the Foresters won seven of the first 10 points. They also pulled away later in the opening set with a 9-2 run that made the score 22-11. Junior
Ireland Van Stone had five kills and
Simisola Osinaike three blocks in the set.
A four-point run by the Red Hawks early in set two gave them a lead they would not relinquish. After falling behind by as many as seven points, Lake Forest closed to within one at 18-17 on an ace by senior
Rebekkah De Kok. Ripon, however, took seven of the next eight points and the set.
A 10-2 Forester run in the third set made the score 15-7 and, after the visitors closed to within six, seven straight points from the home team all but clinched the set. Van Stone led the team with four kills and senior
Lauren Volk with seven digs in the set.
The fourth and final set was tied six times, the last at 10-10 before Lake Forest pulled away with an 11-5 run. Three of the Foresters' final six points of the night came on kills by Van Stone and the last on a kill by freshman setter
Melania Mathieux.
Mathieux finished the night with 28 assists, the most by a Forester this season, and added six kills, three aces, and four blocks.
Van Stone and De Kok led all players in the contest in kills with 13 and 9, respectively, and De Kok matched Mathieux's three aces and four blocks.
Osinaike established a new career high in blocks with five and Lake Forest's eight blocks on the night were a season high. The home team also had 54 digs to the Red Hawks' 39 with Volk and senior
Juli Barrientos leading the way with 13 apiece.
The Foresters will be in action again on Saturday at Illinois Institute of Technology, where they will take on the hosts at noon and North Central College at 2:30 p.m.
