The Buccaneer faithful came out in full force to support the Beloit College volleyball team as they opened Midwest Conference play against Illinois College Friday night in Flood Arena. Despite the 3-2 (19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 15-9) loss, the environment was electric.
The teams set the tone right out of the gate with a back-and-forth affair to open the match. Leading 19-18, the Bucs capitalized on Illinois College miscues to rattle off six of seven points to take the first set.
The Lady Blues came firing back in set two jumping out to a 16-8 advantage before the Bucs ran off seven straight to pull within one.
Katrina Sanchez tallied an ace while
Regina Guehlstorf and
Angela Donath registered kills in the run. Illinois College had the response ending the set on a 9-3 spurt to even the match 1-1.
Both teams put together ample runs in the third set but the Lady Blues got on a roll late putting up five of the last six points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
With the crowd at its largest of the night and the student section moving closer to the floor, the atmosphere changed in set four. Every Buc point brought a raucous response from the Beloit faithful that fueled the squad to their best set of the night at the net. The Bucs hammered down 16 kills in the set including the final three points that were put down by Guehlstorf to send the match to a decisive fifth set.
A big run by the Lady Blues early gave IC a 9-3 that Beloit couldn't come back from despite a valiant effort leading to the final.
Donath, who moved from her typical defensive specialist position to outside hitter prior to the match, led the Bucs offensively with 14 kills. Isabel Concillo Martinez and Guehlstorf joined Donath in double figures with 12 and 10 respectively. Defensively at the net, Guehlstorf registered seven block assists. In the backcourt, Donath had a team-high 24 digs while
Abbie Schmidt and Sanchez each posted more than 20.
Running the offense, Schmidt and
Cora Linos combined for 45 assists on the night. Sanchez also led all players from the service line with four aces.
