Lake Forest, Ill. — Illinois Tech Women's Volleyball earned their second victory of the week Friday night, defeating Lake Forest 3-1 (26-24, 26-24, 31-33, 25-12) in Lake Forest in the opener of the Forester Invitational. The Scarlet Hawks hit .231 with 51 kills and 10 service aces, and closed the match with a 25-12 fourth set.
Victoria Aspurez finished with 11 kills, 5 blocks and 2 aces.
Sydney Wilson had a career-high 12 kills.
The Scarlet Hawks are 5-4 overall. The Foresters are 1-6 overall.
How It Happened
The Foresters built a 16-9 lead in the opening set with help from kills by Lilly Robinson, Alivia Barker and Simisola Osinaike, plus service aces by Rio Dirksen and L'Rae White. The Scarlet Hawks worked back into the set with two
Payton Smith kills and a
Rowan Midgette kill, cutting the margin to 19-17. Trailing 22-19, the Scarlet Hawks drew even on a
Karla Trautmann Mendez kill, a
Sydney Wilson kill and a Foresters attack error before a Wilson-
Lilia Donaldson block later put the Scarlet Hawks ahead 24-23. The Foresters tied it at 24-24 on a Dirksen kill, but Midgette and Smith followed with consecutive kills to close out a 26-24 set win.
The Scarlet Hawks traded points with the Foresters through 9-9 before the Foresters scored four straight, capped by kills from L'Rae White and Alivia Barker, to move ahead 13-9. The Scarlet Hawks were still down 18-16 before an attack error, a
Victoria Aspurez kill, a Trautmann Mendez-Aspurez block and back-to-back Smith aces turned the set into a 21-19 Scarlet Hawks lead. The Scarlet Hawks reached 24-21 on an attack error by the Foresters, but the Foresters answered with three straight points to tie it at 24-24 before Donaldson and Midgette delivered consecutive kills to close the set 26-24.
The Foresters built a 9-2 lead in the third set behind early swings from Alivia Barker and Elise Kelley before the Scarlet Hawks cut the gap to 9-7 with a Wilson kill, an
Erin Nothdorf kill, an Aspurez ace and two Foresters attack errors. Donaldson and Wilson helped the Scarlet Hawks keep climbing, with Wilson's back-to-back kills tying the set at 10-10 before a Foresters bad set and a Kelley attack error put the Scarlet Hawks ahead 12-11. The teams traded points through the middle of the set, with Smith tying it at 15-15, Wilson pulling the Scarlet Hawks even at 20-20 and a Kelley attack error giving the Scarlet Hawks a 21-20 edge. The Foresters reached set point at 24-22, but
Brooke Rifkin served an ace during a three-point Scarlet Hawks response, and after several ties and lead changes, the Foresters scored the final three points to take the set 33-31.
The Scarlet Hawks moved from a 5-4 edge to an 11-4 lead behind Rifkin's serve, with Smith and Aspurez combining on a block and Rifkin adding two aces during the stretch. After the Foresters stopped that run, the Scarlet Hawks immediately built another surge, going from 11-5 to 18-5 as Midgette served through kills by Aspurez, a service ace and several Foresters errors. The Scarlet Hawks kept the margin at 22-6 on a Wilson kill, a Smith ace and a Trautmann Mendez kill, and after the Foresters scored six of the next eight points, Wilson finished the set with a kill for a 25-12 Scarlet Hawks win.
Scarlet Hawk Standouts
Victoria Aspurez
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- 11 kills
- 5 total blocks
- 15.5 points
- 2 service aces
Sydney Wilson
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- team-high 12 kills
- 3 total blocks
- 13.5 points
Payton Smith
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- 9 kills with no errors on 30 attempts
- 12 digs
- 3 total blocks
- 3 service aces
Rowan Midgette
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- team-high 21 assists
- 13 digs
- 3 kills
- 1 service ace
Brooke Rifkin
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- team-high 14 digs
- 5 assists
- 3 service aces
Foresters Top Performers
Alivia Barker
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- 17 kills
- 20 points
- 5 blocks
- .256 hitting
Lilly Robinson
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- 42 assists
- 14 digs
- 3 kills
- 1 service ace
Rylie Almoradie
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- 21 digs
- 5 assists
Elise Kelley
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- 15 digs
- 11 kills
- 1 service ace
Rio Dirksen
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- 11 kills
- 14 points
- 2 service aces
- 2 blocks
Match Notes:
- The Scarlet Hawks improved to 7-4 lifetime against the Foresters, winning the last three matches in a row.
- Scarlet Hawks - Have achieved at least 10 service aces in two consecutive matches this season.
- Scarlet Hawks - Achieved a hitting percentage of .231 in the match, above their season average of .160.
- Smith - Achieved a season-high of three service aces.
- Rifkin - Matched a season-high with three service aces.
- Trautmann Mendez - Recorded at least 10 kills in six consecutive matches.
- Donaldson - Maintained a hitting percentage of at least .333 over two consecutive matches.
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Olivia McMath - Recorded a season-high 11 digs.
- Smith - Recorded a season-high of 12 digs.
- Wilson - Achieved a career-high total of 12 kills.
- Aspurez - Recorded a season-high 11 kills.
- Aspurez - Achieved a season-high of 15.5 points.
- Aspurez - Contributed 5 total blocks, exceeding the season average of 2.25.
- Aspurez - Registered at least two service aces in two consecutive matches.
Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks finish up play in Lake Forest with two Saturday matches in the conclusion of the Forester Invitational: against Eureka College at 10:00am, followed by a noon match with Alverno.
