Volleyball Falls to Blackburn on Senior Night

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (11/03/2026) — The Monmouth College volleyball team fell 3-1 to Blackburn on senior night in the regular season finale on Monday. The Fighting Scots (9-16) have a week off before traveling to Illinois College next Tuesday in the MWC Tournament.

Kaylee Celus (Annawan, Illinois) had Monmouth's first kill and Isa Hughes (Chicago, Illinois) served two aces for a 4-2 lead. Haley Smither (Albany, Illinois) added a a kill as did Brianna Carden (Pecatonica, Illinois) and the Scots led 8-4. Kills by Melina Teunis (Grand Haven, Michigan), Chloe Strachan (Reynolds, Illinois) and Celus made it 12-8 and the Scots led 16-11 after an ace by Celus. A kill and block by Strachan made it 20-17 before Blackburn called timeout and won the next two points. Tyla Mattson (Morton, Illinois) had a kill but Blackburn won three in a row to lead 22-21. Celus had two straight kills but the set was tied at 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28. The Beavers fired off two straight kills to take the set 30-28.

Blackburn stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the second set and then extended the lead to 14-7 before Monmouth used their final timeout. The Scots won the next three points with kills by Carden and Strachan with Katie Whitson (Mackinaw, Illinois) serving. After a kill by Carden, Monmouth went on a 4-0 run with Hannah Ivancho (O'Fallon, Missouri) serving. An error by the Beavers put the Scots up 18-17 and Celus added a kill. Teunis had a block and Celus served an ace for a 21-19 lead. Another ace by Celus and a couple Blackburn errors gave Monmouth a 25-19 set win as they finished on an 18-5 run.

Whitson had a kill early in the third set and Ivancho served an ace. Blackburn led 10-6 when Teunis had a block and Cafrden added a kill. A kill by Abby Viano (Braidwood, Illinois). Tied the set and Monmouth took a 14-12 lead as she shared two blocks with Strachan. Celus had a kill but the Beavers regained the lead at 17-16. Viano had a kill as the set was tied at 18, 19 and 20 before Blackburn won the final five points.

The fourth set was wild with neither team leading by more than three. Teunis and Celus shared an early block and Viano added a kill. Whitson had an ace and two Viano kills put Monmouth up 7-5. Blackburn led 10-9 when Strachan had a kill and the teams traded points with ties at every point between 12 and 19 until the Beavers won two in a row. Monmouth called timeout and scored the next two as Teunis shared a block with Celus and had a kill. Monmouth scored two in a row to tie the set but the visitors won the next two points to take the match.

Celus led the way with 15 kills while Strachan had nine and Teunis added seven. Hughes had 16 assists while Whitson added 12. Hughes led the Scots with four aces and Celus had three. Celus also led the team with 18 digs while Kami Barth (Washington, Illinois) had 13 and Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) added 11. Teunis led the way with seven blocks and Strachan had four.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots honored seniors Nizzia and Tayler Raska (Galesburg, Illinois) along with student manager Lexie Campbell in a pregame ceremony ... Celus has at least 10 kills in 17 matches this seasonBarth has at least 11 digs in 10 straight matches and has been in double digits 14 times this season ... The match had 36 ties and 19 lead changes ... The fourth set alone had 16 ties ... The Scots lead the all-time series 8-1 ... The teams last met in 2023, a 3-0 Monmouth sweep ... The Scots are off until traveling to Illinois College next Tuesday for the MWC Tournament ... The winner of the No. 4 IC vs. No. 5 Monmouth game will play host at No, 1 Cornell next Friday.