Volleyball

Category: Volleyball

Beloit rallies to down Vikings

BELOIT, Wis. — The Beloit College volleyball team rallied from two sets down to defeat Lawrence University 3-2 on Friday night in a Midwest Conference match at Flood Arena.

The Bucs won 19-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-11.

Lawrence scored the final four points of the second set to go up 2-0, but it was Beloit that pulled away late in the third set. Beloit scored three consecutive points to take a 23-20 lead and go on to win that set.

The Bucs rolled in the fourth set and took a 6-1 lead in the final set. Lawrence rallied to trim the lead to two points three different times, including the last at 13-11. Beloit then scored the final two points to win the match.

Leah Kruckman had 16 kills to pace Beloit. Clare Bohrer had 14 kills to lead Lawrence but she also had 17 errors. Emma Kane added 12 kills and Shannon McLain had 11.

Box score

Falcons top Lawrence in three sets

ELMHURST, Ill. — The UW-River Falls volleyball team posted a 3-0 victory over Lawrence University on Saturday at the Elmhurst College Invitational.

River Falls won by the scores of 25-19, 25-13, 25-14.

Clare Bohrer led Lawrence with six kills, and Shannon McLain added four. Taylor Tomaszewski paced the Vikings with 12 digs and two aces. Kate Rosenbalm led Lawrence with 12 assists.

North Central takes down Vikings

ELMHURST, Ill. — The North Central (Ill.) College volleyball team posted a 3-0 victory over Lawrence University on Saturday at the Elmhurst College Invitational.

North Central won 25-16, 25-16, 25-14.

Clare Bohrer paced the Vikings with six kills, and Shannon McLain and Emma Kane had three kills apiece. Kate Rosenbalm led Lawrence with 13 assists. Kathleen Rowland had a team-high 14 digs for Lawrence, and Kane picked up three aces.

Simpson edges Vikings in five sets, Bohrer tops 1,000 kills

ELMHURST, Ill. — The Simpson College volleyball team edged Lawrence University in five sets on Friday at the Elmhurst College Invitational.

Simpson defeated the Vikings 25-15, 24-26, 28-26, 25-21, 15-7.

Lawrence’s Clare Bohrer topped 1,000 kills for her career in the match. Bohrer paced the Vikings with 21 kills and added six blocks. Bohrer now has 1,020 career kills and is just the fifth player in Lawrence history to top 1,000 kills.

Emma Kane added 12 kills for the Vikings, and Kate Rosenbalm piled up 45 assists. Kathleen Rowland had 26 digs and three aces, and Kane and Taylor Tomaszewski added 17 digs apiece.

Wheaton downs Lawrence

ELMHURST, Ill. — The Wheaton College volleyball team put on a strong performance and defeated Lawrence University 3-0 at the Elmhurst College Invitational on Friday night.

The Thunder defeated Lawrence 25-14, 25-20, 25-15.

Clare Bohrer led the Vikings with eight kills. Kate Rosenbalm paced the Lawrence attack with 23 assists, and Kathleen Rowland picked up 24 digs.

St. Norbert tops Vikings in three sets

The St. Norbert College volleyball team put on a strong hitting performance Wednesday night and went on to a 3-0 Midwest Conference victory over Lawrence University at Alexander Gymnasium.

The Green Knights (19-5, 6-0 MWC) defeated Lawrence (12-13, 5-2) 25-17, 25-10, 25-20.

St. Norbert, which hit .196 as a team for the match, got 11 kills from Breanne Brocker. Danielle Remy and Heidi Spies added six kills apiece. Abby West led St. Norbert with 17 assists, and Catherine Guido had 20 digs.

Clare Bohrer paced the Vikings with eight kills, and Shannon McLain added five. Kate Rosenbalm, filling in at setter for Diane McLeod, had 20 assists. Kathleen Rowland had a team-high 11 digs for the Vikings.

Box score

Vikings roll to shutout win over Ripon

The Lawrence University volleyball team rolled to an impressive 3-0 Midwest Conference victory over Ripon College on Wednesday night at Alexander Gymnasium.

The Vikings (12-12, 5-1 MWC) won 25-11, 25-13, 25-14.

Clare Bohrer paced the Lawrence attack with 11 kills, and Shannon McLain added nine for the Vikings, who hit .270 for the match. Karlyle Wehner had six kills to lead Ripon (5-19, 1-4).

Kathleen Rowland piled up 19 digs for the Vikings and now has 1,000 for her career. She is the eighth player in Lawrence history to reach 1,000 digs. Sam Nimmer added 12 digs for the Vikings.

Diane McLeod piled up 34 assists on the evening for Lawrence, which got a pair of aces from both Emma Kane and Rowland.

Lawrence jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the opening set, and Ripon never got closer than six points after that. Lawrence led by as many as 15 points in the opening set.

The Vikings ripped off the first six points of the second set and never looked back. Lawrence would lead by as many as 12 points in the second set and that proved to be the winning margin.

Ripon got its first lead of the night in any set when it scored the first point of the third set. Lawrence pulled back to even at 5-5 and then steadily built the lead from that point.

Lawrence returns to action on Oct. 19 when it hosts St. Norbert College.

Box score

Vikings roll past Illinois College

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — The Lawrence University women’s volleyball team powered to a 3-1 Midwest Conference victory over Illinois College on Saturday at Sherman Gymnasium.

Lawrence won 25-12, 25-15, 22-25, 25-11.

Clare Bohrer hammered out 19 kills and hit .457 on the afternoon to pace the Vikings (11-12, 4-1 MWC). Shannon McLain added 11 kills and freshman Presley Neuman added nine for the Vikings.

Diane McLeod directed the Lawrence attack and picked up a match-high 42 assists. Kathleen Rowland led three Lawrence players in double figures with 19 digs.

Box score

Monmouth tops Vikings in four sets

MONMOUTH, Ill. — The Monmouth College volleyball team shook off a loss in the first set and defeated Lawrence University 3-1 in a Midwest Conference match on Friday night.

The Scots won 19-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21 in a showdown of unbeaten MWC squads.

Chelsey Widdop paced Monmouth with 13 kills and Beth Dwyer added 10.

Clare Bohrer led the Vikings with 11 kills and Shannon McLain added eight. Diane McLeod directed the attack and picked up 31 assists. Kathleen Rowland paced the Vikings with 21 digs.

Box score

Inside LU Athletics: Volleyball set for big road trip

Matt Schoultz has come to this fork in the road before, but this time the Lawrence University volleyball coach would like to take the other route.

The Vikings were in this same position back in 2009. Off to a 3-0 start in Midwest Conference play and facing a weekend road trip to Monmouth and Illinois College. The Vikings lost both of those matches in five sets and didn’t win another league match the rest of the season.

“We don’t want a repeat of that,” Schoultz said. “We have to focus even more and bring our best game.”

This team is vastly different than the 2009 squad, which was dominated by underclassmen. The Vikings are older, battle-tested and more talented from top to bottom.

“We’re playing more consistent, and I feel like we’ve gotten better each time we step into the gym. That’s been our goal since day one,” Schoultz said. “Hopefully, we’re peaking at the right time.”

After beating Carroll to open the conference season, the Vikings took care of business at home last weekend with a 3-1 victory over Grinnell and a 3-0 drubbing of Knox.

“The Grinnell match was close and the women fought through some tough points,” Schoultz said. “Again, our non-conference schedule really helped us prepare for some of the situations we were in.”

The Vikings have a difficult task this weekend because Monmouth is unbeaten (4-0) and atop the league with a half-game lead over Lawrence. Illinois College is holding down fourth place with a 3-2 league record. Factor in close to 15 hours on a bus this weekend with the road trip to southern Illinois and back, and sweeping a pair of matches becomes infinitely more problematic.

“That’s definitely our goal. If we can come home 5-0, we’re sitting pretty well to be in the (four-team) conference tournament. To be 5-0, that’s huge at that point,” Schoultz said.

“Monmouth is going to have it our for us. We ruined their undefeated season last year. They were 6-0 coming in last year and we took that away from them.”

To keep that conference record unblemished, the Vikings will need their stars to continue their impressive play.

Senior middle hitter Clare Bohrer, a three-time all-conference selection, and junior outside hitter Shannon McLain form Lawrence’s 1-2 punch. Bohrer leads the team with 167 kills (2.74 per set), and McLain is next with 166 (2.44 per set).

“Shannon has had a tremendous couple of weeks here. She’s been a huge offensive threat for us in the front row,” Schoultz said.  “And Clare is playing as well has she’s played in her four years here.”

Directing the offense is sophomore setter Diane McLeod, who leads the conference at 9.12 assists per set.

“She runs our team,” Schoultz said. “We definitely would be a different team without her.”

Lawrence also is playing some of its best defense in recent memory. The Vikings are third in the league in blocks and fourth in digs. Teams are hitting only .157 against Lawrence. Libero Kathleen Rowland ranks third in the conference at 5.66 digs per set.

“Kathleen’s play in the back row has been tremendous,” Schoultz said. “She’s aggressive and fast and her defensive is unbelievable at times. We can force some teams into doing what they don’t want to do by playing good defense.”

Harriers at home

The Lawrence cross country teams are at home for the only time this season when they compete at the Gene Davis Invitational on Saturday at Reid Golf Course.

Lawrence is the defending team champion on the women’s side, and Vikings senior Emily Muhs also is the defending individual champion. On the men’s side, Lawrence sophomore Curran Carlile is the defending champion, and Carthage is back to defend its team title.

The first race begins at 10 a.m.

Passing fancy

The Lawrence football team put up some impressive passing numbers in its loss to Illinois College last Saturday.

Quarterback Luke Barthelmess passed for 443 yards, the third-highest game total in Lawrence history. Wide receiver Dominique Dirden caught three touchdown passes and became only the second freshman in Lawrence history to accomplish that feat. Appleton native Zach Michael did it first in 2000.

Burke wins again

Lawrence women’s soccer standout Cassie Burke has been named the Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season.

The junior goalkeeper made 13 saves in Lawrence’s scoreless double-overtime tie at Carroll last Saturday. It was Burke’s second shutout of the season and the sixth for her career.

Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a weekly notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.