Women’s volleyball team splits matches at Dominican Triangular

RIVER FOREST, Ill. – The Olivet College volleyball team split two matches this afternoon at the Dominican University Triangular, held inside the Igini Sports Forum in River Forest, Illinois. In their first match, the Comets swept Illinois Institute of Technology in three sets. In the second match, Olivet lost to the host Stars in three sets.

Final Score: Olivet def. Illinois Tech 25-23, 25-18, 25-17
Location: Igini Sports Forum; River Forest, Illinois
Records: Olivet 13-7 overall, Illinois Tech 6-17 overall

• The Comets held a 4-1 lead in the first set. The Scarlet Hawks battled back and took a pair of four-point leads. After the last one at 15-11, Olivet went on a 5-0 run to go up 16-15. Illinois Tech responded with a 4-0 run to go up 19-16. The Scarlet Hawks maintained their lead at 23-19. A kill by freshman Ellie Louiselle made the score 23-20. Backed by the service of senior Morgan Schneider scored five straight points to win the set 25-23.
• In the second set, Olivet used a 9-0 run to turn 11-6 deficit into a 15-11 advantage. The Comets did not give up the lead for the rest of the set.
• Illinois Tech led 12-10 in the third set. Olivet put seven of the next nine points on the scoreboard to take a 17-14 lead. The Comets then out-scored the Scarlet Hawks, 8-2, to win the set by a 25-17 score.

• Louiselle, senior Morgan Champion and junior Audrey Lama each slammed down nine kills.
• Junior Laken Groll was next with seven kills.
• Senior Madelyn Notenbaum dished out 34 set assists and served three of the 11 Olivet aces.
• Sophomore Drue Mullin collected 18 digs, followed by senior Gabrielle Mundt with 16.

• Karen Marrufo-Zubaran tallied a match-best 10 digs.
• Courtney Darling registered team-highs in set assists (16) and digs (14).

Final Score: Dominican def. Olivet 25-20, 25-9, 25-21
Location: Igini Sports Forum; River Forest, Illinois
Records: Olivet 13-8 overall, Illinois Tech 18-6 overall

• In the first set, the Comets raced out to a quick 6-0 lead. The Stars came back to take their first lead at 16-14. Olivet answered with three straight points to regain the lead. Dominican responded with its own 3-0 run to go ahead 19-17. The Stars led for the rest of the set.
• Dominican had a wire-to-wire advantage in the second set.
• The Stars took an 11-2 lead in the third set. The Comets fought back with a 10-1 run to level the score at 12-12. Dominican scored the next point before extending its lead to as many as five points at 19-14. Olivet did not go down quietly as they came back to tie the set on three occasions. Following the last time at 21-21, the Stars put the final four points on the scoreboard to win the set and match.

• Lama and Louiselle finished the match with seven kills apiece.
• Groll tallied four blocks (one solo and three assisted).
• Freshman Kennedy Blackburn dished out nine set assists.
• Mundt had a team-best four digs.
• Notenbaum served three aces to move her career total to 108, and is now two shy of second all-time at Olivet.

• Dominican posted a .260 attack percentage.
• Summer Smith led the way with nine kills.
• Keely McCallum, Olivia Magnussen and Gabija Sinickaite each had eight kills.
• Anastasia Labadessa and Madi Palmer split time at setter, recording 16 and 15 assists, respectively.
• Sarah Lychock recorded a match-high 17 digs.

• Olivet resumes Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play Tuesday night when it hosts Alma College. First serve from the Cutler Event Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.