The Monmouth College volleyball team played their final non-conference match of the season winning at Webster 3-1 (25-10, 34-32, 22-25, 25-12) on Tuesday night. The Fighting Scots (19-9, 6-1) finish the regular season on Saturday at Grinnell, a possible MWC Tournament foe on Nov. 15.
“Overall a great win for us against a really good team,” said head coach Derrick Broekemier. “A few days off and we came out here and played some great volleyball. We fought hard the entire game and got the win.”
Tied 1-1, Layne Wright (Davenport, Iowa) served first for the Scots and Chloe Strachan (Reynolds, Illinois) got a kill. Up 5-2, the Scots added on with Savannah Robinson (Delavan, Illinois) serving. Kaylee Celus (Annawan, Illinois) got a kill for a 7-4 lead and Paige Bergschneider (Alexander, Illinois) served an ace. Lauren Aldrich (Wauconda, Illinois) made it 9-5 with a kill and Celus served an ace. Webster called their timeouts as the run pushed Monmouth’s lead to 16-5. Wright had an ace on the line for a 20-9 lead. Robinson picked up another ace for a 22-10 lead. Strachan made it a set point with a kill and Robinson finished the set 25-10 with her third ace.
Monmouth fell behind 2-1 in the second set before Paige Foltz (Vinton, Iowa) got a kill. After a 5-5 tie the Gorloks won five in a row. Monmouth got a sideout and traded points but still trailed 13-9 with Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) serving. Webster pushed the lead to seven before Monmouth won consecutive points to trail 18-13. The Scots cut the lead to 19-16 and Celus powered home a kill. Celus picked up two more kills and an error by the Gorloks put the Scots down just one point. Celus served an ace to tie the set at 21 and Wright had a kill for the lead. Webster led 24-22 but the Scots picked up three straight to regain the lead. Webster took the next two points to lead 26-25 and Celus tied the set with a kill, Tyla Mattson (Morton, Illinois) served as Monmouth took the lead on an error but the set was tied again at 27. Down 28-27, Celus picked up another kill and she gave Monmouth the lead with a kill. Webster won the next two points and Celus tied the set again. Robertson gave Monmouth a 32-31 lead with a kill but Webster tied it again. Monmouth finally won the set 34-32 on two straight Webster errors.
Strachan had an early kill but Webster led the third set 4-2. Celus picked up two kills but Webster pushed the lead to 10-6. Aldrich had a kill but Webster maintained a 4-point lead. Celus had a pair of kills to cut the Gorloks lead to 17-13. A block by Robertson cut the lead to 18-16 and Aldrich had a kill. Wright powered home a kill but Webster got a sideout for a 20-17 lead. Down 24-21, Celus got a kill to keep the match going and Webster called timeout. The Gorloks won the set with a kill to force a fourth set.
Celus ended the third set with 20 kills and added two more early in the fourth set with Monmouth taking a 6-3 lead. Mattson snuck in a kill and a Monmouth block gave the Scots a 10-4 lead. Wright had a kill and two Webster errors gave the Scots a 16-7 lead. An ace by Celus put the visitors up by 10 and Webster called timeout down 19-8. Webster won three of the next four points before Aldrich got a kill. Celus put the Scots up 22-11 with another kill and Webster hit the ball into the net. Strachan’s kill gave the Scots match point before the Gorloks got a side out.
Final official stats of the match were not available.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Robinson moved into the top 10 on the Monmouth career list in digs with 1235 as she passed Alanna Trettin … Celus has at least 20 kills in seven matches this season … She has at least 10 kills in 20 of her 26 matches played … Celus, who started the night with 349 kills, moved into 10th on the single-season kills list, surpassing Chelsea Widdop’s 2010 season of 367 … Widdop is also in ninth with 391 kills in 2012 … Monmouth has 19 wins, the most since the 2010 team won 20 … The 19-9 record is the best after 28 matches is tied for the best since the 2002 team was 22-6 … The Scots have won five matches in a row … The Scots went 4-0 against SLIAC teams this season … Webster has already qualified for the SLIAC Tournament … Monmouth is 6-4 all-time against Webster with three straight wins, a sweep at home in 2023 and a 5-set road win in 2022 … The final MWC matchup is Nov. 9 at Grinnell with a 1 p.m. start.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
