BELOIT, Wis. Beloit College fought to the final point in all three sets this evening but fell to Lake Forest 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-22).
The match was close early, the teams tied 14 times and traded the lead five times, with Beloit setting the pace in the opening points of sets one and two.
Naomi Murphy (Dubuque, Iowa) was Beloit's best player. She finished with a team-high 11 kills on 22 attempts, hitting .409 with only two errors, and added a solo block and a block assist for a team-best 12.5 points. She opened set one with five kills on six swings (.833) and delivered Beloit's first kill of the match to tie it at 1-1.
Lilianne Bethards (Rockford, IL) gave Beloit a second scoring threat with 7 kills and 4 digs. Five of her kills came in the third set, where she hit .222 on nine swings and repeatedly answered in tight spots.
Beloit's best stretches came when it was trailing. In set two, the Bucs took 10-9 and 11-10 leads on back-to-back Murphy kills, setting up a back-and-forth middle stretch before Lake Forest pulled away. Late in the set, Murphy and Bethards combined for kills to cut a 16-23 deficit to 19-23. In set three, down 7-14, Beloit ripped off five straight points, led by three Bethards kills with Aaliyah Gerard (Aiea, HI) serving, to cut the gap to 12-14. Late, with Lake Forest up 24-17, the Bucs again scored five in a row (18-24 through 22-24), including a Kierra Rayne Hoover (Albuquerque, New Mexico)/Murphy block on L'Rae White and a Murphy kill, forcing a Lake Forest timeout before the Foresters closed it out.
Setter Gerard (a 14-assist leader on 31 attempts, .452 assist percentage) and Lizzie Paschal (Holbrook, AZ) (4 assists, 4 digs) ran the offense. Libero Adelaide Schmitt (Aurora, Colo.) anchored the back row with 5 digs and 13 receptions, while libero Renee Stout (Nocona, TX) added 4 digs and 12 receptions. Maddisyn Adams (Stockett, MT) served two aces and Madeline Holthaus (Saint Paul, MN) chipped in 3 kills and 3.0 points. As a team, Beloit recorded 28 digs and 2 team blocks.
Serving was a bright spot and a challenge: Beloit had four aces but also nine service errors.
Beloit hopes to turn its late-set energy into early-set momentum as conference play continues on Friday, Oct. 9th at Flood Arena at 7pm against Ripon College.
