Scots Volleyball Splits Two Saturday Matches

The Monmouth College volleyball team split two matches at the Marian Invitational in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on Saturday. The Scots beat host Marian 25-15, 25-22, 23-25, 25-13 in the morning match and lost a tough 5-setter to Benedictine in the afternoon match. The teams traded sets with the Eagles taking the deciding set 15-12.

Leah Allan (Oconto, Wisconsin) got things rolling for the Scots in the opening match with a kill. Down 3-1, Kaylee Celus (Annawan, Illinois) picked up a kill and Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) served up two straight aces. Brynn Hogan (Galena, Missouri) had a kill for a 6-3 lead and a 5-0 run for the Scots. Celus had two kills before Hogan served an ace for a 12-7 lead. Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) joined the attack for a kill as did Chloe Strachan (Reynolds, Illinois) and Monmouth pushed the lead to 17-9. Allan and Strachan added kills and a service error by the Sabres gave Monmouth the opening set at 25-15.

Bailey Hill (East Alton, Illinois) started the serving in the second set and kills from Robertson, Celus and Allan led to a Marian timeout with the Scots up 6-2. Robertson and Hogan shared a block before Celus picked up a kill. Hogan added two aces and a block by Strachan and Melina Teunis (Grand Haven, Michigan) put the Scots up 16-11. Kills by Robertson and Celus put the Scots up 20-15 but the hosts won the next five points to tie the set. Down 22-21, the Scots won the final four points of the set, finished by a Celus ace for the 25-22 win.

The Scots jumped out to a 6-1 lead in set three with kills from Robertson and Celus and a block shared by Robertson and Strachan. An ace by Nizzia and another kill from Celus kept the lead at six. Allan had a kill before the Sabres went on a 5-0 run to pull within one at 12-11. They tied the set at 13 and took the lead at 17-16. Allan and Lauren Aldrich (Wauconda, Illinois) both had kills but the Sabres won the race to 20. Hogan had a kill for a 24-23 deficit but Marian extended the match with a kill of their own. .

Hill served an ace to start the fourth set and Allan added a kill. Allan also served an ace and a kill from Celus put the Scots up 6-1. The Scots led by as many as seven a few times in the fourth set with kills from Celus, Hogan and Allan leading to a 15-8 advantage. Marian closed the gap to five but the Scots ran off eight straight points with Nizzia serving to lead 23-10. In that run the Scots had kills from Robertsona and Celus plus an ace by Nizzia. A Marian error on match point gave the Scots a 25-11 win,

Celus led the Scots with 14 kills while Allan had eight. Bailey Hill (East Alton, Illinois) led the team with 21 assists and Robertson contributed 10. Nizzia had four aces and 11 digs while Celus led the team with 16 digs. Robertson had seven blocks and Hogan added five.

MATCH TWO

In the afternoon match, freshman Bri Woodard (Monmouth, Illinois) got her first career start and picked up a kill on the first point. The teams traded points with Strachan and Allan picking up kills. Benedictine went on a 6-0 run to lead 12-7 before the Scots called timeout. Allan had a kill and Woodard shared a block with Aldrich to cut the deficit to three. The Eagles went on another run to lead 19-12 before Aldrich powered home a kill. Hogan added a kill as did Allan but the Eagles won the opening set 25-18.

Allan, Aldrich, Woodard and Teunis had kills early in the second set as the Scots built a 6-2 lead. Aldrich and Teunis shared a block and Teunis added another kill for a 9-6 lead. The Eagles tied the set at 10 and took the lead for a point. The teams traded points with ties at 11, 12 and 13 before Woodard had a block and two errors gave the Scots a 16-13 lead. The lead extended to 18-13 with a kill by Strachan. Woodard, Aldrich and Hogan added kills and Monmouth lead 22-19. Teunis added a kill and a service error by BU ended the set with a 25-22 Monmouth win.

The third set went back and forth early with kills from Strachan and Aldrich. An ace by Hill put the Scots up 7-4 but the Eagles won four points in a row and a 7-1 run gave them an 11-8 lead. Nizzia had a kill but BU pushed the lead to five as the Scots called timeout. Kills by Aldrich and Woodard closed the gap to 16-13 but the Eagles won the next four points. Hill had another ace and a block by Allan and Robertson cut the lead back to three. The Scots got to within one at 24-23 but the Eagles closed out the set with a kill.

Aldrich had two early kills in the fourth set and Hogan added one for a 4-2 lead. Hill picked up an ace and Aldrich had another kill for a 5-point lead. The Eagles went on a mini run before Allan had two kills for a 10-7 advantage. Woodard had two kills in a row for a 14-10 lead and Hogan added another one. Monmouth pushed the lead to 17-12 but the Eagles rallied to tie the set at 18. A block by Strachan and Teunis put the Scots back on top but Benedictine took the next two for a 20-19 lead. Woodard had kills to tie the set at 20 and 21 before Nizzia served up an ace for a 23-21 lead. With the set even again, Aldrich delivered a kill but the Eagles answered. Hill put the Scots up 25-24 with a kill and an error by the Eagles gave the Scots a 26-24 set win.

Strachan started the fifth set with a kill and Robertson served an ace. The Eagles scored the next four points before two errors tied the set 4-4. The Eagles led 6-4 when Aldrich and Woodard picked up kills to tie the set again. Benedictine won four of the next five points and the Scots called timeout trailing 10-7. An ace put the Eagles up four before a kill from Teunis got the Scots on serve. Down two, Aldrich served an ace and the Scots evened things up on an Eagles error. Benedictine went back on top 12-11 and 13-12 before finishing off the match with two straight kills.

Aldrich and Woodard both had 11 kills to lead the Scots against Benedictine. Allan added nine kills while Teunis and Strachan both had five. Robertson had 25 assists and Hill had 10. Hill led the Scots with three aces while both Aldrich and Robertson had two. Teunis had three blocks and Allan led the Scots with 19 digs. Nizzia added 15 digs and Tayler Raska (Galesburg, Illinois) had 10.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The win against Marian is the first Monmouth win for new head coach Hope Neargarder ... Robertson set a new career high with seven blocks against Marian, one more than she had against Wisconsin LaCrosse on September 20, 2024 ... Hogan doubled her career total in blocks with the five against Marian ... She also had her first career aces ... Nizzia tied her career high in aces with four against Marian ... Monmouth had 12 aces against Marian ... Hill had a career-high 21 assists against Marian, one more than she had October 4, 2023 against Knox ... In the first set against Marian, the Scots hit .632 as a team with 12 kills and zero attack errorsNizzia and Raska both had career highs in digs in the Benedictine match ... The 5-set match featured 29 ties and 13 lead changesThe fifth set had five ties ... The Scots are 2-2 all-time against Marian with the other win coming in 2016 ... The Scots are 2-6 all-time against Benedictine and the team's haven't met in in the last 15 seasons ... Monmouth heads back to Wisconsin next weekend for matches against Wisconsin Lutheran and St. Norbert in the Milwaukee suburbs.