Scots Fall in Four at Augie on Tuesday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/02/2024) — The Monmouth College volleyball team lost a hard-fought 4-set non-conference match at Augustana College on Tuesday. The Fighting Scots (10-8) won the third set and led late in the fourth before falling 25-20, 25-16, 18-25, 25-23.

The Vikings jumped out to an early lead in the opening set at 6-3 and they pushed it up to 12-6.
Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa) and Paige Foltz (Vinton, Iowa) had kills to cut the lead back to five and Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) picked up an ace. The Vikings pushed the lead back to seven before Wright got another kill and Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) served up an ace to pull Monmouth within three. The Vikings took the final two points and won the opening set 25-20.

The second set was tight early with ties at every step between 2-2 and 13-13. After Kaylee Celus (Annawan, Illinois) got a kill to tie the set at 13, Augustana went on a 3-0 run. Lauren Aldrich (Wauconda, Illinois) had a kill to make it 16-15 but the Vikings won nine of the next 10 points to win the set 25-16.

The start of the third set was similar to the second with ties at 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8. With Celus and Robertson on serve, the Scots went on a run to lead 14-9. Wright and Celus added kills for an 18-12 lead and Augie called timeout at 20-14. Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) had an ace after kills by Aldrich and Robertson for a 23-14 Monmouth lead. A pair of errors by the hosts closed out the set with Monmouth winning 25-18.

Chloe Strachan (Reynolds, Illinois) started the fourth set with a kill and kills from Celus and Robertson put Monmouth up 3-2. The Scots trailed 6-4 when Aldrich and Wright picked up kills.The teams traded points with ties at 9, 10, 11, and 12 before a 3-0 Vikings run. Celus ended that run but the Vikings led 18-14 when Robetson got a side out with a kill. An ace from Celus plus a kill from Wright closed the gap to two. Tied at 20, Monmouth took the lead on an ace by Tyla Mattson (Morton, Illinois) and the Vikings called timeout. Wright put Monmouth up 23-22 with a kill but her service error tie the set again. Augustana won two straight points to finish the set and match at 25-23.

Celus led the Scots with 14 kills while Wright had 13 and Aldrich had 11. Bergschneider had 27 assists and Mattson had 17. Wright led the way with 18 digs while both Robinson and Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) had 11. Bergschneider led Monmouth with two aces and Foltz had three blocks

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Nizzia and Wright both had season highs in digs ... Celus, who won her third Midwest Conference Performer of the Week award on Tuesday, has at least 10 kills in 15 of her 16 matches on the season ... Bergschneider had a season-best 27 assists ... The Scots had six aces from five different players ... The match had 29 ties and 14 lead changes ... Monmouth lost a 4-set match for the first time this season and they are now 5-1 in 4-set matches ... Augustana has won seven straight against the Scots and leads the all-time series 32-23-2 ...The Scots travel to Ripon on Friday to start MWC play with a game at Lake Forest on Saturday ...The next home match is against Illinois College on Oct. 11.