Aldrich Powers Home 11 Kills as Scots Win Home Finale

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill (10/26/2024) — The Monmouth College volleyball team swept aside Lawrence on Saturday with a 25-22, .25-20, 25-19 win in the home finale. The Fighting Scots (17-9, 5-1) moved to the brink of clinching a MWC Tournament spot and can officially clinch on Wednesday at Knox.

"Overall this was a good performance from the team," said head coach Derrick Broekemier. "We had a game plan in place and the girls executed it very well. This team wants it and that showed today in beating a good Lawrence team."

With Tyla Mattson (Morton, Illinois) serving, Monmouth took a 2-0 lead in the opening set. Paige Foltz (Vinton, Iowa) had a pair of kills for a 4-2 lead but the Vikings went on a run to lead 10-6. Two kills by Lauren Aldrich (Wauconda, Illinois) and another from Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa) pulled the set even at 10-10. Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) and Aldrich had kills before Mattson served an ace. Four errors by the Vikings gave control of the set to Monmouth and two kills by Chloe Strachan (Reynolds, Illinois) put the hosts on top 20-14. Lawrence went on a run before Kaylee Celus (Annawan, Illinois) made it 22-20 with a kill and Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) served an ace. Aldrich finished off the set at 25-22 with a kill.

Mattson started the second set with a kill, Wright had an ace and Celus added a kill for a 3-0 lead. Foltz, Robertson and Aldrich had kills before Wright gave the Scots a 10-5 lead. Lawrence closed to within one at 13-12 before Robinson served an ace and Aldrich added a kill. Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) made it 18-13 with an ace and Aldrich powered home another kill. The Scots led 22-18 when Aldrich picked up another kill and Mattson had an ace for set point. Strachan finished off the set with a kill and a 25-20 win.

Strachan had a kill and a block early in the third set before Celus made it 5-2 with a kill. Robinson added a third ace and Celus picked up another kill for a 7-3 lead. Celus had three straight aces for an 111-4 lead and three Vikings errors put the Scots on top 14-4. Foltz, Strachan and Celus had kills to stymie Lawrence runs with Monmouth extending the lead to 19-12. Aldrich and Celus added kills for a 23-17 lead before Lawrence won two straight points. Celus made it match point with a kill and Monmouth won the match as Lawrence hit the antenna for a 25-19 set.

Aldrich led the Scots with 11 kills while Celus had eight and Strachan had seven. Mattson led Monmouth with 16 assists and Bergschneider had 14. Robinson had a team-best 14 digs while both Foltz and Strachan had three blocks. Robinson and Celus both had three aces while Mattson had two.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Celus has at least two aces in nine matches this season ... Robinson has at least one ace in nine straight matches with 18 total aces in that stretch ... Robinson also went over 1200 career digs ... Aldrich has at least 10 kills in eight matches this season including three of the last four home matches ... The Scots had 11 aces to just five for the VIkings ... Monmouth has 17 wins, the most since the 2012 team won 19 ... The 17-9 record is the best after 26 matches is tied for the best since the 2002 team was 21-5 ... The Scots went 7-1 at home this season ... The Scots are 23-10 all-time against Lawrence with five straight 3-0 winsLawrence hasn't won in Glennie Gym since 2017 ... The Scots play at Knox at 7 p.m. Wednesday.