Volleyball Splits at Viking Classic on Saturday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (09/18/2022) — The Monmouth College volleyball team split a pair of games on Saturday at the Viking Classic and finished the event 2-2. The Scots swept Blackburn College 3-0 in the opener but lost 3-0 to Marian University in the second contest.

Monmouth and Blackburn traded points throughout the first set and the Beavers led 24-22. Monmouth got a kill from Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) to get back on serve and an error by Blackburn tied the set at 24. Another error gave the Scots a set point and Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa) slammed home a kill for a 26-24 win.

Neither team pulled away early in the second half with the largest leading being three points until the Scots won four straight to lead 15-9. The Beavers got the lead down to one at 21-20 before kills from Kenzie Russell (Morton, Illinois) and Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) clinched the set 25-21.

The third set was tied 5-5 before the Scots won six straight points. They pushed the lea to 13-7 but Blackburn tied it at 14. After Monmouth took a 21-16 lead, the Beavers won three points in a row. Two kills from Delaney Scheidenhelm (New Berlin, Illinois) on either side of a Lauryn Jeffries (Lakeland, Florida) ace gave the Scots a 24-19 lead. Cece Palladino (Volo, Illinois) had the kill to clinch the match.

Russell led the Scots with 12 kills while Dybal had eight. Bergschneider had 36 assists to go with 12 digs while both Jeffries and Dybal had two aces. Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) led Monmouth with 17 digs and Jeffries had 13. Scheidenhelm and Palladino both had three blocks.

The Scots and Beavers play again on October 8 in Carlinville, Illinois.

In the second match, Marian won 25-22, 25-16, 25-20. The first set was tight the whole way through until Marian won four points in a row to break an 18-18 tie. The Scots got back to within two but fell 25-22.

Marian took control of the second set at 11-9 as they won the next four points. The Scots got back to within three before Marian moved the lead to 19-13 and 22-15. The Scots got a kill from Palladino before Marian won the last three points to take the set.

Monmouth led the third set 7-6, 9-8 and 10-9. Marian took the lead at 11-10 and never looked back. They pushed the lead to five at 21-16 and traded points to win the set 25-20.

Dybal led the Scots with seven kills while Scheidenhelm had six. Bergschneider had 17 assists and eight digs, matching Robinson for the team lead. Sarah LaHood (East Peoria, Illinois) had Palladino both had four blocks while Lauren Naven (Dunlap, Illinois) and Abby Droege (Jerseyville, Illinois) had aces.

The Scots (5-7), start Midwest Conference play next. They will host Grinnell College at 7 p.m. Friday in Glennie Gym before hosting Cornell College at 1 p.m. Saturday. Each of the next four games on the schedule are conference games, three at home.