Scots Volleyball Drops MWC Opener to Grinnell

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/24/2022) — The Monmouth College volleyball team dropped the Midwest Conference opener 3-0 to Grinnell College on Friday. The Scots (5-8, 0-1) fell 25-23, 25-21, 25-21 to the Pioneers (8-4, 1-0) in Glennie Gym.

Monmouth won six of the first 10 points to take a 6-4 lead in the opening set. Grinnell battled back to win six points in a row and go on top 12-8.They pushed the lead to 15-9 and then 19-12. The Scots went on a run to close the gap to 19-16. Leading 24-18, Grinnell had numerous chances to close out the first set but couldn't. The Scots took five straight to pull within one before Grinnell won the set 25-23.

The Scots took the first two points of the second set. Grinnell went on a big run from 6-5 to 14-5 as they took control. The Pioneers pushed the lead to 16-6 and eventually went up by 12. Down 21-9 the Scots went on a massive run. Sarah LaHood (East Peoria, Illinois) served nine points in a row as the Scots cut the gap to 21-18. Monmouth got even closer at 23-21 but the Pioneers got the last two points to take a 2-0 lead with a 25-21 set win.

The Scots took the first point of the third set before going down 5-1. The teams traded points as Grinnell led 8-4 before Monmouth won four in a row to pull even. After the set was tied 10-10, the Pioneers won five straight points. Monmouth closed the gap to 16-14 but the Pioneers pushed it back to five at 22-17. The Scots rattled off three straight points to get the score to 22-20. Grinnell got to match point at 24-21 and clinched the match with the next point.

Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa) and Kenzie Russell (Morton, Illinois) led the Scots with seven kills each and LaHood had six. Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) had 29 assists and Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) with 14 digs. The Scots had 10 blocks, led by CeCe Palladino (Volo, Illinois) with three. Both Bergschneider and LaHood had two aces.

Monmouth returns to action on Saturday with another MWC contest against defending champions Cornell. The JV teams will play at 11 am with the varsity match scheduled for 1 pm at Glennie Gym.

Sarah

Lahood