Volleyball Sweeps Eureka on Tuesday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (11/01/2023) — The Monmouth College volleyball team swept Eureka College for the second time this season with a 25-19, 25-5, 25-22 win in the non-conference finale. The Scots are now 11-12 on the season with a MWC match against Grinnell at home on Saturday.

The first set bounced back and forth early with neither team leading by more in the first 25 points. After a tie at 12-12, the Scots took the next three points on two kills from Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa) and an ace by Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois). At 17-14, the Scots won two straight points on errors and Eureka called timeout. Monmouth pushed the lead to 20-15 and a kill from Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) put the Scots up six. Kenzie Russell (Morton, Illinois) got an ace but Eureka ran off three straight points to close the gap to 24-19. Dybal got another chance on the outside and her kill finished off the set at 25-18.

The second set started with the Scots taking a 3-0 lead before Eureka scored two in a row. Wright had a kill and after Eureka scored, Monmouth ran off five points in a row on Russell's serve to lead 9-3. Dybal had three kills in the run before Eureka got a side out and Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) responded with a kill. The Scots won the next 10 points on Dybal's serve to go on top 20-4. Dybal had two aces in the run and CeCe Palladino (Volo, Illinois) had two kills. Nizzia got a kill and on her serve, Wright had back-to-back kills to finish off the set at 25-5.

Wright had consecutive kills to start the third set and put Monmouth on top 2-0. Eureka caught up at 6-6 and 7-7 before Russell had an ace. The Scots went on a run to lead 13-8 with an ace from Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) and a pair of kills from Wright. After a timeout, Eureka won six points in a row to lead 14-13, their first since early in the first set. They pushed the lead to 15-13 but had a service error after a Scots timeout. Dybal tied the set with a kill and Monmouth regained the lead on an error from Eureka. With senior Ana Iatauro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) serving, the Scots pushed the lead to 18-16. Eureka won three straight to lead 21-20 before hitting the ball out of bounds. Wright had a kill on an overpass to tie the set at 22 and then combined with Palladino for a block.

Dybal led the Scots with 12 kills and Wright had 10. Bergschneider led the team with 28 assists and Palladino had two blocks. Nizzia and Iatauro both had 11 digs while Robinson had eight. Russell picked up three aces while Dybal had two.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots have won at least 11 matches in five straight seasons. Monmouth also beat Eureka 3-0 in September on the road. Monmouth is 48-15 all-time against Eureka. The Scots went 4-2 against SLIAC teams this season with both losses against Greenville. In hitting the set minimum of 150 played, Robinson now ranks second on the Monmouth career list with 4.81 digs per set. Monmouth finishes the regular season with a 1 p.m. home match against Grinnell on Saturday. A spot in the MWC Tournament will be on the line if Grinnell loses to first-place Cornell on Wednesday. Saturday is also senior day with Iatauro and Kalista Merrill (Colona, Illinois) being honored pre-game.