Volleyball Ends Season with Loss at MWC Tournament

By Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, ILL. The Monmouth College volleyball team finished their season on Friday night with a 25-12, 25-18, 28-26 loss against Lawrence at the Midwest Conference Tournament. The Scots, who tied with Lawrence for second-place in the conference at 6-2, finish the season with an overall record of 12-14.

With senior Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) serving, Monmouth jumped out to a 2-0 lead. MWC Player of the Year Kaylee Celus (Annawan, Illinois) and Melina Teunis (Grand Haven, Michigan) shared a block for a 5-4 lead before the Vikings took a 7-6 advantage. Brynn Hogan (Galena, Missouri) had a kill before sharing a block with Teunis for a 10-9 Monmouth lead. Lawrence won the next four points for a 13-10 lead and the Scots called timeout. The Vikings kept the run going with two more points until Hogan got a kill. Lawrence extended the lead to 20-11 and Monmouth used their final timeout of the set. Hogan had another kill but the Vikings took the opening set 25-12

Hogan and Teunis started the second set with a block but the Vikings took a 2-1 lead. Bri Woodard (Monmouth, Illinois) and Robertson put Monmouth back on top with a block and Celus powered down a kill for a 4-2 lead. Two straight Lawrence errors led to a Vikings timeout before the ended the 5-0 Monmouth run with a sideout. Celus and Woodard added kills for an 8-4 lead and Robertson answered a Lawrence kill with one of her own. The Vikings rallied to tie the set at 12 before Celus had another kill. A Vikings error and a kill by Woodard put Monmouth up 15-12 but the Vikings won the next four points. Tied at 16, Lawrence won eight straight points before making an error. Hogan had a kill for 24-18 but Lawrence finished off the set on the next point.

Teunis and Hogan had kills to start the third set before Robertson served Monmouth's first ace of the night. The teams traded points and Celus had three kills before the Scots pushed the lead to 10-7 on a block by Robertson. A Vikings service error and kill by Robertson made it 12-8 before the Vikings won five straight points. Kills by Robertson and Celus put Monmouth on top 15-14 but LU won the next two. Celus had a kill as did Teunis before Lawrence went up 19-17. The Vikings pushed the lead to 22-19 and Leah Allan (Oconto, Wisconsin) delivered a kill. The Scots called timeout on match point and got a block from Celus and Teunis to stay alive at 24-22. Celus kept the match going with a kill and an error by the Vikings tied the set at 24. Monmouth went on top 25-24 but the Vikings tied it at 25 and took the lead for another match point. Celus picked up her 10th kill of the night but Lawrence won the next two points to take the set 28-26 and win the match in a sweep.

Celus led the Scots with 10 kills while Hogan had five. Robertson had nine assists and Bailey Hill (East Alton, Illinois) added eight. Robertson had the lone assist while Teunis had four blocks. Allan led the Scots with eight digs.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Celus had 20 matches this season with at least 10 kills, including 10 in a row to finish the season ... She led the Scots with 334 kills this season ... The last time the Scots played in consecutive Midwest Conference Tournaments was 2010-12 when they went to three in a row ... The Scots are 23-12 all-time against Lawrence, 6-2 at the MWC Tournament ... Lawrence won the regular season matchup in 5-sets on Oct. 18 at Monmouth, snapping a 5-match losing streak in the series ... The Scots have lost eight straight MWC Tournament games dating back to a win in 2007 when they played in the final, losing to St. Norbert.