Volleyball Drops Hard-Fought Five Setter on Saturday

Scots Finish MWC Play with Loss at Ripon

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/22/2022) — The Monmouth College volleyball team lost their final Midwest Conference match on Saturday with a 25-17, 19-25, 20-25, 25-21,10-15 road loss to Ripon College. The Scots finished MWC play at 3-5 and are now 10-12 on the regular season with four non-conference matches left this month.

The Scots used a 4-0 run to take a 9-3 lead in the opening set with CeCe Palladino (Volo, Illinois) grabbing back-to-back kills. Monmouth steadily pushed the lead to 14-6 and then 20-9 on kills by Sarah LaHood (East Peoria, Illin0is), Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) and Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa). Ripon went on a run to cut the lead to seven but Palladino's kill gave the Scots a 25-17 set win.

Ripon took control of the second set with a 3-0 run at 6-6 and they led the rest of the way. The lead didn't grow past three until 19-15 and the Red Hawks added two more points. They traded points from there and won the set 25-19.

Monmouth won the first three points of the third set. Ripon caught up at 6-6 and took the lead briefly before the Scots won six points in a row. Ripon called timeout down 12-7 and went on a 6-0 run of their own. The set was tied multiple times as the teams battled to 20 with the Red Hawks taking a 22-20 lead. They won the last five points of the set to go on top with a 25-20 win.

The teams went back-and-forth early in the fourth set with neither team leading by more than two until the Scots won four points in a row to go on top 11-8. Ripon caught up at 14-14 and took the lead with the next two points. Monmouth responded with a 5-1 run and got to 20 on an attack error. Wright picked up a kill for a 21-18 lead but Ripon won the next three points. The Scots responded by winning four in a row to win the set 25-21 on a kill by Wright.

Ripon jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fifth and deciding set. The Scots won three in a row and the set was tied 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 before Ripon took a 7-5 lead. They pushed the lead to three and the teams traded points as Ripon closed in on the match. Monmouth called a timeout down 13-10 but the Red Hawks won the next two points to take the match 15-10.

Wright led the Scots with 13 kills in the match while Dybal had 11. Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) had 41 assists to go over 800 in her career. LaHood led the Scots with three assists and Palladino had a team-high three blocks. Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) led Monmouth with 36 digs while Dybal had 25 and Wright had 16.

The Scots will host Iowa Wesleyan at 7 p.m. on Wednesday for the final home match of the season. They will play three matches in the Central College Invite next weekend in Pella, Iowa.