Lake Forest Shakes off Rust to Defeat Knox in Four Sets
Molly McCloskey pound out season-high 13 kills

Molly McCloskey

Megan Trubich

The Foresters' last match was eight days ago and the home team dropped the first set after surrendering five Knox aces. Lake Forest actually led 16-13 before a 10-1 Prairie Fire run helped the visitors take the set. Forester freshman Molly McCloskey Riverside, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield() led all players with four kills in the set and junior Deena Blanchard (Sparta, Mich./Sparta) had nine assists.

Blanchard recorded 11 assists and McCloskey added four more kills in the second set. The Foresters trailed 10-9 before rattling off five straight points. Lake Forest led by as many as five points twice and fought off a Knox rally that trimmed the margin to two 23-21 late in the set.

The Foresters scored the first two points and led throughout set three. It was 11-7 before the home team closed out the set on a 14-4 run. Freshman Cori Cooper (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) had four kills and a pair of aces and the squad took advantage of 11 Knox hitting errors in the set.

Set four started with a 7-1 Lake Forest run and the Foresters gradually increased their lead as it continued. Freshman Megan Trubich (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) kept play alive with 11 digs in the set and finished with a season-high 28 digs on the night.

McCloskey led the Foresters with a season-high 13 kills and Cooped added 10. Cooper and Trubich, who entered the night ranked first and second, respectively, in the conference in aces per set, each had three in the match. Blanchard finished with 33 assists.

"We did a fantastic job of controlling the pace of the match during the final three sets," commented Lake Forest head coach Jen Saylor. "Our hitters were successful with their shot placement and in picking apart the Knox defense."

Lake Forest will continue league play Saturday (October 17) against visiting St. Norbert College. The match will begin at 3:00 p.m. Live video webcasts of all of Lake Forest's remaining home and conference matches will be available at www.pennatlantic.com.

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