Scots Volleyball Rallies Past Blackburn in Home Opener

Dybal leads the way with 14 kills

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/20/2023) — The Monmouth College volleyball team rallied to win the home opener on Tuesday against Blackburn College in a non-conference matchup. After dropping the first set, Monmouth took the next three 25-15, 26-24, 25-21 to win the match 3-1.

Blackburn controlled the first set throughout as Monmouth never led. There were two ties in the set but the Beavers pushed the lead to 11-3 and then to 17-7. Monmouth got it back to single digits briefly but Blackburn took the set 25-15.

The second set was completely different as Monmouth grabbed the momentum early, taking their first lead of the night at 2-1 on an ace from Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa). A kill from Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) and another Wright ace made it 4-1. Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) had two kills as the lead grew to 8-4 and three straight errors by the Beavers put Monmouth up 14-7. Kenzie Russell (Morton, Illinois) had a kill to stop a mini Blackburn run and Wright put up another ace for a 18-11 lead. With the Scots up 23-15, Nizzia recorded a kill and an error from Blackburn gave Monmouth the set at 25-15.

"We made too many errors in the first set and cleaned that up in the first set ," said coach Derrick Broekemier. "We were swinging well and just missing in the first set. Our serve receive was there and our serving was there and once we cleaned up the misses we were in good shape."

Monmouth fell behind early in the third set, trailing by as many as three on multiple occasions. The Scots cut the lead to 14-13 on a kill by Russell and pulled even on a Blackburn error. A kill from Wright gave Monmouth a lead and the run extended on an ace from Nizzia. Blackburn pulled even at 20-20 and Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) got a kill. CeCe Palladino (Volo, Illinois) and Dybal both had kills for set points at 24-21 but Blackburn won the next three. Dybal gave Monmouth a 25-24 lead with a kill and Russell finished off the set with a kill.

"The fight and the hustle was great tonight," said Broekemier. "Our serve receive tonight was the best I've seen this team have consistently."

Monmouth jumped out to an early lead in the fourth set and never trailed. Kills from Palladino and Wright in a 7-0 run gave Monmouth an 11-4 lead. Nizzia and Dybal had consecutive kills and blocks from Palladino and Robertson pushed the lead to seven at 18-11. Wright gave the Scots a 20-14 lead with a kill but Blackburn won the next four points to get back into the set. Two errors by the Beavers helped the Scots regain momentum and Nizzia made it 24-20 with a kill. Two points later, Dybal finished off the match with her 14th kill of the night and a 25-21 set win.

"In the fourth set CeCe and Alana came out strong in the middle of the net and got some great touches," said Broekemier.

Dybal led the way with 14 kills and Wright added 10. Russell had seven kills and Nizzia had six in her home opener. Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) led the Scots with 24 digs while Wright (16) and Nizzia (12) were also in double digits. Wright had four of Monmouth's six aces and Palladino had a hand in six of the Scots nine blocks. Robertson led the team with 26 assists while Bailey Hill (East Alton, Illinois) had 10.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Dybal hit .387 for the match. Monmouth out-aced Blackburn 6-2 and had six more blocks. The Scots had better than 62% side out in the final two sets. Neither the first or fourth sets had lead changes. Tuesday's match was the first at home against Blackburn since a 3-0 sweep on Sept. 17, 2019. The last four matches between the teams had been played in neutral sites or at Blackburn. Monmouth is 8-0 all-time against Blackburn. Tuesday's match was the first home game for Broekemier. The Scots play six of seven matches at home through Oct. 6. Monmouth next plays on Friday 6 p.m. with a home game against Webster UniversityFans are encouraged to wear red for the Sea of Red theme night.