The Monmouth College volleyball team dropped their Midwest Conference opener to Cornell 3-0 on Friday night. The Fighting Scots (5-11, 0-1) will play three matches next week, all at home. 

Kaylee Celus (Annawan, Illinois) had Monmouth's first kill on the night and the teams traded points early. Lauren Aldrich (Wauconda, Illinois) powered home two kills from the left side and Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) served an ace. Celus had two more kills to tie the set at 10 before Cornell went on a 5-1 run. Celus had another kill, Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) added one and Aldrich delivered a kill to close the score to 16-15. The Rams won the next three points and despite two more kills by Aldrich, they won the opening set 25-19. 

Melina Teunis (Grand Haven, Michigan) gave the Scots a 3-2 lead in the second set with a kill and Celus added a kill. Teunis had another kill to force a Cornell timeout at 6-2. Celus, had another kill while Chloe Strachan (Reynolds, Illinois) and Robertson had kills to keep the Scots up four at 10-6. Aldrich and Brynn Hogan (Galena, Missouri) delivered kills and Cornell called another timeout after Celus put the Scots up 17-12 with a kill. Cornell won the next four points, two on aces, and Monmouth called timeout. Cornell tied the match before a Robertson kill. The Rams took their first lead since 1-0 at 19-18 and added on to lead 22-19 for Monmouth's last timeout. The Rams took three of the next four points to win the set 25-20. 

The Rams took a 3-0 lead in the third set before a kill by Robertson, The Rams led 8-1 before Teunis had a block and a kill. The visitors pushed the lead to 12-4 before a kill by Celus. Robertson had a block and a kill before Celus delivered a kill but the Rams still led 17-9. Teunis had another kill but the Rams scored three in a row to lead 22-12. The Scots cut the deficit to eight but Cornell won 25-16. 

Celus led the Scots with nine kills while Aldrich had eight. Bailey Hill (East Alton, Illinois)  had 14 assists and Robertson had 11. Nizzia had an ace and tied with Leah Allan (Oconto, Wisconsin) for the team lead in digs with six, 

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: This is the second match in a 6-game home stretch in a 13-day span with the next road game coming on Oct. 25…The series was tied 33-all before Friday's match…Robertson is the sixth player in the rally-scoring era with at least 50 solo blocks…Celus has 199 kills on the season…Cornell had 11 aces to Monmouth's one…Cornell has won 17 straight in the series dating back to a Monmouth win in 2010…The Rams won 3-1 in Monmouth last year…The Scots are home on Wednesday for a non-conference match at 6:30 p.m. against Webster…The next conference game is at 7 p.m. Friday against Lake Forest.