Greenville, IL - The Lyon College Scots battled through a challenging doubleheader today, falling to the Greenville College Panthers (18-25,11-25,15-25) in the opener. Scots responded with a gutsy push against Blackburn College Beavers, erasing a two-set deficit with back-to-back 25-21 wins. The comeback effort came up just short, as the Scots dropped the decisive fifth set 16-18 but showcased resilience throughout the day. Lyon is 11-14 on the season and 5-7 in SLIAC conference play.
Below are recaps of both matches.
Lyon 0, Greenville 3
Scots would find themselves down in the first set, 8-3, with the Panthers scoring off kills, errors, and an ace. Scots points would be scored off an error and kills from
Cristen Cleveland and
Avery Fuller with
Madeline Hopson setting up both. Two errors and a kill from
Mollie McCoy assisted by
Isabel Cervantes would close the lead to four, 9-5. Beary and McCoy would lay down a block to make it 12-7. Beary and Cleveland would send kills to the floor with Hopson setting up the assist, 14-9. Greenville would extend the lead to an 11 point lead, Scots would respond scoring six point in a row with kills from
Claire Carothers, Beary, McCoy, and two aces from Fuller to make it 22-17. Cervantes would set up Beary to drive in the final kill for the Scots, 24-18, but Panthers would take the first set with a final kill.
In the second set Lyon was down early but closed the lead early with an ace from Fuller with blocks from Fuller, McCoy, and Beary, 6-4. Panthers would respond with an 8-1 run scoring off kills, blocks, and errors, 15-6. Beary assisted by Hopson would contribute the lone kill during that run. Cervantes would drive in a kill and ace, with Cleveland adding another to make it 16-9. Panthers would score seven points off errors, blocks, kills, and an ace, 23-10. Greenville would take the set with two more kills.
Lyon would take the lead in the third set off a kill from Cleveland, error, and block by McCoy and Fuller to make it 3-2. This lead was brief as a kills and an ace from Greenville would make it 8-4. Neveah Ghan would drive in a kill assisted by Cervantes to cut it to only three points, 8-5. Hopson would set up kills from Beary and Cleveland to keep the Scots in this match, 11-7. Panthers would extend their lead with kills, an error, and block to make it 18-10. Ghan with the assist from McCoy would find the hardwood again, 18-11. Greenville would go on a 6-1 run off an error, kills, and a block, 24-12. Beary and Cleveland would drive in kills, 24-15, but Panthers would take the third set and the match driving in a final kill.
Beary and Cleveland led the team in kills each having seven. Cleveland also led the team digs with seven. Beary added two blocks and a dig. Fuller led the team in service aces with three, while contributing two kills, two digs, two blocks, and an assist. McCoy led the way with four blocks, she added four kills and an assist. Hopson ran the offense with 13 assists and she added three digs.
Lyon 2, Blackburn 3
Scots started slow in the first half with Beary landing the first kill of the match, 4-2. Cleveland and an error by Blackburn would make it a three point game, 7-4. Beavers would extend their lead but a service ace from Cleveland and error would make it 11-6. McCoy would drive in a kill to cut the lead to four, 12-8. With Beavers up 16-9, Scots would stay in the fight with Beary driving in a kill and an error. Blackburn would go on a 5-0 run off kills and a block to take an eleven point lead, 21-11. A Scots 5-1 run with kills from Cleveland, Fuller, and aces from Oliva Locke and Cervantes made it 22-16. Blackburn would take the first set with three quick kills.
The second set began with teams trading points back and forth, as Cleveland, Beary,
Morgan Harrelson drove in kills to tie it early 7-7. Cervantes would sent a kill to the hardwood with an assist from Hopson to put the Scots on top, 11-10. Beavers would extend to a three point lead, 16-13, before kills from Cleveland and an ace from Hopson would bring the Scots within one point. Cleveland would tie the game and take the lead with a kill and two aces 21-19. Blackburn's offense would come alive on a 6-0 run to take the second set.
Down 2-0, Scots came out swinging taking an early lead with kills from Cleveland, Fuller, Beary, Cervantes, and McCoy, 7-3. Beavers would close the lead, 7-5, but Scots would not lose it for the remainder of the set as blocks from Harrelson and McCoy as well as a service ace by Beary would put the Scots up by five. Now 12-6, Cleveland and McCoy would send kills to the hardwood assisted by Cervantes, 15-7. Cleveland delivered two kills and an ace to power another late 5-0 run, with Cervantes and Fuller chipping in kills of their own. Hopson assisted each attack to extend the margin to 21–12. Beavers would battle back scoring eight points to cut the lead to only three points, 24-21. Cleveland with a set up by Cervantes would drive in the final kill to take set three.
Lyon would start down in set four, 6-4, Cervantes would send a kill and ace to the hardwood to tie it at six. Both teams would trade points back and fourth, but Scots would take the lead with a 5-0 run. McCoy would drive in two kills and Locke would put down two service aces, 13-10. Beavers would close the lead to two off a kill, 15-13, but another 5-0 run would keep Scots on top. Cleveland would add a kill and ace, while Fuller drove in two kills, Fuller and Beary would lay down a block to make it 20-13. Cleveland would drive in the final kill with Cervantes on the assist to take the set, 25-21.
In the fifth and final set both teams would go point-for-point with Cervantes, Harrelson, McCoy, and Cleveland driving in kills. Blackburn would emerge from this with the lead briefly, 6-5. Cleveland and Beary would each make kills assisted by Hopson, but Cleveland would also record an ace to put the Scots on top, 10-7. Beavers would battle back to tie it, 10-10, Cervantes and Beary would drive in kills but Blackburn tie it again. Now 12-12, Beary and McCoy would add kills to take a brief lead. Once again Blackburn would take the lead, but a block from McCoy and Harrelson would tie it, 15-15. Cleveland drive in the final kill for the Scots, but Blackburn would take the set off a kill and a error.
Cleveland led the team with 17 kills and seven service aces. She also added 18 digs. Harrelson led the team with five blocks, she also contributed three kills and one assist. Hopson ran the Scots offense with 31 assists, she also tallied nine digs and two aces. Defensivley Locke notched 25 digs, she contributed four assists and three aces.
Lyon Fighting Scots volleyball will return to Batesville, AR to face the Crowley's Ridge College Pioneers this coming Tuesday, November 4th at 6:00 PM.
