Day two of the Forester Invitational was a success as the Lake Forest College women's volleyball team posted a 25016, 25-18, 25-21 victory over Alverno College and a 25-16, 25-16, 25-19 triumph over Eureka College.
The home team won the first six points of the day and led Alverno throughout the opening set. The margin grew to as many as 10 and kills by
Rio Dirksen and
L'Rae White finished it off.
The Inferno led by as many as three several times early in set two but freshmen
Elise Kelley and
Alivia Barker combined for seven kills and a pair of aces during a 10-point run that gave the Foresters a 21-13 lead. An ace by
Lilly Robinson closed out the set.
Lake Forest started the third set with five straight points but Alverno came back and tied the score at 10. The Foresters regained the lead for good and, once again, point 25 came from a kill by White.
Barker led all players in the match with 10 kills while
Simisola Osinaike finished with a career-high nine and a .727 hitting percentage. Robinson tallied a match-high 35 assists and four aces and
Alisa Kevric with led everyone with 15 digs. White also reached double figures in digs with 10.
The Foresters did not trail at all during the first two sets against Eureka. The lead reached a dozen in set one, which concluded with a kill by Dirksen, and Lake Forest led by nine by the end of the second set, which Kelley finished off with a kill.
The Red Devils won the first three points of set three and their lead was back up to three again later at 11-8. Five in a row for the Foresters put them on top and they did not trail again. The seventh and final tie score in the set came at 16-16 and preceded a 6-1 run by the home team that went a long way in clinching the match.
Kelley's 18 kills against Eureka is the highest total by a Forester this season and Kevric Robinson shared team-high honors with eight digs apiece. Robinson also had 31 assists and four more aces. She moved into seventh place in program history with 1,642 career assists and raised her ace total to 159, which ranks sixth in team annals.
The victories raised Lake Forest's overall record to 3-6. Alverno and Eureka also lost in three sets to Illinois Institute of Technology on Saturday and fell to 2-8 and 6-6, respectively.
The Foresters will travel to Elmhurst University on Friday for a triangular that also includes Benedictine University.
