Monmouth gained no ground, but lost none in the Midwest Conference following a five-set marathon at Lake Forest Friday night, holding onto fifth place in the league, one spot out of a playoff berth with three league matches to play.
 
The minimum six points separated Monmouth and Lake Forest Friday through the first three sets, but it was the Foresters who pulled away in the final two sets to defeat Monmouth 3-2. The Scots took Sets 1 and 3 by 26-24 scores, but dropped the second set 27-25. After neither team had opened much of a lead through the first three sets, the Foresters pulled away late in a 25-18 fourth set win to force the match into a fifth set. Lake Forest climbed to an 8-5 advantage and reeled off a pair of three-point service rotations to eventually take the match 15-7, offsetting a 15-kill night from Ashley Farris and 11 by Riley Cook.
 
The Scots play at rival Knox next Thursday in a 7 p.m. match before wrapping up their hoe season next Saturday with Grinnell.