Volleyball Swept by No. 24 Cornell on Friday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/14/2023) — The Monmouth College volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-14) to conference leaders and No. 24 Cornell College on Friday night. The Scots continue their weekend road trip on Saturday with an afternoon conference match at Beloit College.

The Scots jumped out to a 2-0 lead with Kenzie Russell (Morton, Illinois) serving. Cornell won the next five points and the Scots tied the set at 5-all with Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa) serving. Cornell led 10-5 when Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) picked up a kill and Monmouth won three straight points on the serve of Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois). Cornell won six straight points to go up 17-10 before a Monmouth rally cut it to 20-16 on a kill from Wright. A kill from Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) forced a Cornell timeout at 22-20 but the Rams took the next three points to win the set.

The hosts controlled the second set from the start with a 7-0 lead. The closest the Scots got was 9-5 on an ace from Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) before Cornell won the next two points. The Rams pushed the lead to 18-8 and won the set 25-12.

A kill from Delaney Scheidenhelm (New Berlin, Illinois) tied the third set 1-1 and the set was also tied 2-2, 4-4 and 5-5. Cornell went on a 5-0 run and eventually led the set 19-9. The Scots used a mini-run to get within eight but the Rams won their first match point at 25-14.

Nizzia led the Scots with seven kills while Wright had five. Robertson had 10 assists, one more than Bailey Hill (East Alton, Illinois). Robinson led Monmouth with 14 digs and Nizzia had 10. Robertson had Monmouth's only service ace on the night,

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Monmouth had kills from five different players. The match featured six ties and one lead change, which came in the first set. The Scots are one match into a four-match road trip, all in conference. The Scots play at Beloit on Saturday with a 1 p.m. start. The next home game is Tuesday, Oct. 31 against Eureka.