Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Monmouth College volleyball team split matches on Saturday with a big Midwest Conference road win over Illinois College. The Fighting Scots (9-13, 3-2) rallied to beat the Lady Blues in five sets before falling to Wisconsin-Platteville, a team that has been nationally ranked this season.

The first set had eight ties until IC scored three points in a row to lead 12-9. Monmouth pulled it back to within one but the Lady Blues pushed to a 16-12 lead and eventually led by as many as six. They held on to win the set 25-20. Lauren Aldrich (Wauconda, Illinois) led the Scots with four kills while Bri Woodard (Monmouth, Illinois) had two. 

After trailing early in the second set, Melina Teunis (Grand Haven, Michigan) had a block, an ace and a kill in a 5-0 run for a 6-2 lead. A kill by Woodard and an ace from Kaylee Celus (Annawan, Illinois) kept the Scots up 9-5.  Brynn Hogan (Galena, Missouri) and Alana Robertson (Mapleton, Illinois) had kills and the Scots stayed up by five through the middle of the set. The Lady Blues pulled within one before kills by Celus and Teunis plus an ace from Zoe Nizzia (Pekin, Illinois) pushed the lead back to five. Kills from Aldrich and Teunis set up set point and an IC error gave Monmouth the set at 25-17. 

The third set went back-and-forth early until Celus had three straight kills for a 7-4 lead. The lead grew to 10-5 and 12-7 with an ace by Nizzia and a kill from Woodard. Aldrich had two kills, Hogan served an ace and a kill by Teunis made it 18-12. IC closed the gap to 21-20 and Monmouth called timeout. Aldrich had kills on both sides of IC winning points and the set was tied at 23. Celus put the Scots on top and an IC error finished the set for the Scots at 25-23. 

The fourth set was close throughout with eight ties and two lead changes. Celus has five kills for Monmouth and Aldrich added four. The set was tied at 17 before IC took the lead. Monmouth was down one at 20-19 but IC won the next four points and took the set 25-20. 

Celus and Robertson had early kills in the fifth set but neither team led by more than one until IC went up 6-4 and 7-5. Aldrich and Teunis had kills for a 10-8 Monmouth lead before the set was tied at 10, 11, 12 and 13. Celus tied the set at 13 with a kill and gave Monmouth match point with an ace. Aldrich finished off the Lady Blues with her 15th kill of the day for the 3-2 win.

Aldrich had 15 kills, Celus added 14 and Woodard had eight. Bailey Hill (East Alton, Illinois) led with 19 assists and Robertson had 18. Celus and Nizzia had two aces each and Nizzia led the team with 19 digs. Teunis had eight blocks, five solo. 

MATCH TWO

The Scots turned around and immediately played UWP, a team receiving votes in the national rankings after being ranked in the top 20 earlier this season. Monmouth stayed close in the first set before falling 26-24. The Pioneers took the final two sets 25-15 and 25-18.

Celus led Monmouth with 10 kills while Woodard had seven. Robertson had 14 assists and 12 digs while Nizzia added 10 digs and Hill had nine assists. Hogan led the Scots with three aces and tied with Robertson for the team lead with two blocks. 

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: With three conference games left, Monmouth is tied for fourth place with Lawrence…Lawrence hosts IC in the last match of the season…Celus has 16 matches this season with at least 10 kills, including six  in a row…She has at least nine kills in her last 13 matches and at least 12 in five straight before the UWP match…The Scots beat IC in Jacksonville for the first time since 2012, having lost six in a row…Monmouth won 3-1 last year and trail the all-time series 34-28…Monmouth and Platteville had not met since 2016…The Pioneers lead the all-time series 8-0…The Scots play at Beloit on Friday night.