Volleyball Defeats Illinois College In 3

The Westminster volleyball team defeated Illinois College 3-0 Wednesday evening. The Blue Jays improve to a 3-2 overall record with a 3-1 NCAA record. “It was good to get our first 3-0 win under our wing,” said Coach Curtis Madson. This was the last match before the Blue Jays open their St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play up this Saturday.

The Blue Jays took the early 15-5 lead in set one, but the Lady Blues of Illinois College battled back and brought the game to 21-18, Westminster. Coach Madson stated “we made this match a little tougher for ourselves and let them back in. I’ll credit Illinois College for stepping up and taking advantage of the holes we left.” The Blue Jays pulled out the 25-21 win with a kill by freshman Riley Lawrence to seal the deal.

The second set was back-to-back and was tied 18-18 before the Blue Jays pulled the lead. The Blue Jays were able to take the set 25-21.

The Blue Jays quickly took the 3-0 lead in the third set. The Lady Blues kept the game close throughout the set, but the Blue Jays never gave up the lead. They were tied 23-23, but two kills by sophomore Lexi Collier put an end to the set (25-23) and to the match.

“Our middle play made the big difference. When we passed the ball, we couldn’t be stopped,” said Coach Madson.

The Blue Jays finished the night with a 39.3 kill percentage and was led by Lawrence with 14 kills. Freshman Amanda Kiso and Collier finished with a 61.5 and 61.1 kill percentage, respectively. Freshman setter Kayla Reeg completed the night with 43 sets and sophomore libero Caroline Will had 14 digs.

The Blue Jays will open their conference play at the Principia Quad this Saturday. They will take on Spalding University at 11:00 a.m. and Webster University at 1:00 p.m.