Volleyball Sweeps Beloit on Saturday

Nizzia with 12 kills and four aces in win

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/14/2023) — The Monmouth College volleyball team swept Beloit 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-17) on Saturday to pick up a weekend split and move to 3-2 in MWC action.

The first set bounced back and forth for the first five points before the Scots went on two different runs. From 2-2 the Scots won three straight with two kills from Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa). Monmouth won five in row on Savannah Robinson's (Delavan, Illinois) serve to go up 11-5. Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) and Delaney Scheidenhelm (New Berlin, Illinois) had kills as the Scots pushed the lead to 18-10 and then won the next three points as well. Scheidenhelm and Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) had kills to set up set point at 24-16 and the Scots won the opening set on a Beloit service error.

Monmouth never trailed in the second set. Nizzia had a kill on the first point and the Scots sprinted out to a 7-2 lead with kills from Dybal and Wright. Monmouth had a 3-point run on the serve of Ana Iatauro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and won two more with Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois). The Scots pushed the lead to 20-12 and kills from Dybal and Nizzia forced a Beloit timeout. The Buccaneers had an error on set point as Monmouth took a 2-0 lead at 25-18.

Monmouth rotated the lineup for the third set. The set was tied five times in the first 12 points before the Scots won three straight on the serve of Lauren Naven (Dunlap, Illinois). Beloit got to within one at 12-11 but a kill from Dybal and two aces from Nizzia pushed the lead back to four. Brynn Hogan (Galena, Missouri) had a kill and Kenzie Russell (Morton, Illinois) added a kill for a 19-13 lead. The teams traded points before Shea Scott (Keosauqua, Iowa) gave the Scots match point with a kill. An error by Beloit finished the match with Monmouth winning 25-17.

Nizzia led the Scots with 12 kills while Dybal had seven. Bergschneider had 16 assists and Hill had 10. Bailey Hill (East Alton, Illinois) led the team with 19 digs and Nizzia had 14. Nizzia also led the team with four aces

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Monmouth had kills from nine different players. Nizzia had a 14-dig, 12-kill double double in the matchMonmouth had six blocks as a team and five aces. The Scots play at Lawrence next Saturday with a 1 p.m. start. The next home game is Tuesday, Oct. 31 against Eureka.