Scots Volleyball Wins at Knox on Wednesday

Russell's 12 kills lead the way

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/06/2022) — The Monmouth College volleyball team picked up their first Midwest Conference win on Wednesday with a resounding 25-13, 25-22, 25-20 win at Knox. The Scots are now 6-10 overall, 1-3 in MWC action.

The first set went back and forth early before Monmouth won four points in a row to go on top 13-8. The Scots pushed the lead to 15-9 on a Knox error and 17-10 on an ace from Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa). Wright kept the strong serve going and Knox called timeout trailing 19-10. Sarah LaHood (East Peoria, Illinois) picked up a pair of aces to push the lead to 24-12 and a service error by Knox gave the Scots a 25-13 set win.

Knox managed to hang in the second set and even led 5-2. After ties at 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7 the Scots took the lead on an ace from Lauryn Jeffries (Lakeland, Florida). Neither team led by more than two and the set was tied eight more times, the last at 21-21. Kenzie Russell (Morton, Illinois) got a kill for the lead and a Knox error gave Monmouth a 23-21 lead. Cece Palladino (Volo, Illinois) got a kill and the Scots won the set 25-22 on an error by Knox.

Knox jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set before the Scots won three of the next four points. Leading 5-4, the hosts won five straight points for a 10-4 lead, their largest of the night. A kill from Palladino ended the run and the teams traded points. Down 13-9, the Scots tied the set on a service error, two kills from Russell and a kill from LaHood. Out of a Knox timeout, Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) gave the Scots the lead with a kill. The lead pushed to 16-13 and 18-15. A kill by Russell and an ace by Jeffries extended the lead to 23-19 before Knox got a side out. Wright got a kill for match point and an attack error gave the Scots the match.

Russell led the Scots with 12 kills while Wright and Dybal had six each. Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) had 28 assists and 14 digs while Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) had 10 digs. The Scots had 14 aces, led by Wright with five and LaHood with four. Palladino had two of the Scots seven blocks.

The Scots have won four straight in the series and are 7-3 in the last 10 matches. All-time, the Scots are 68-21 against Knox in volleyball. The Scots play non-conference games this weekend with a 6 p.m. game at Webster on Friday and a 1 p.m. match at Blackburn on Saturday. The next home game is a MWC match against Illinois College at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Amanda

Dybal