GRINNELL, Iowa – The Grinnell College volleyball team made history Saturday afternoon in Darby Gymnasium.
The Pioneers rolled over Lawrence University in four sets, pushing the hosts to the best Midwest Conference record in program history at 7-2. Additionally, the Pioneers punched their ticket to the MWC Tournament for the third year in a row and fifth time ever. Grinnell earned the second seed in the event and will play third-seeded St. Norbert College at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 2 in Mount Vernon.
Grinnell, which won by scores of 25-20, 25-23, 27-29 and 25-21, is 16-13 overall. The win total ranks sixth in program history. Lawrence fell to 2-7 in the MWC and 3-23 in all matches.
Kaylin Kuhn '21 had 20 kills for Grinnell,
Payton Lowrey '22 added 18 and
Emma Willhardt '19 scored 13. Grinnell had 67 kills, which ranks 10th in program history for a four-set match, and 64 assists, ninth-best for a four-setter.
Julianna Roth '22 had 52 of those assists.
Madison Smith '20 tallied 23 digs, Lowrey added 20, Roth came up with 16 and Kuhn had 12.
Sophia Carbajal '21 had three total blocks.
Grinnell led virtually the entire first set, including 23-16 late. After the Vikings went on a 4-0 run, Willhardt pounded down a kill and
Sidney Litke '19 served a point for the win. The second set was tight the whole way, with Grinnell having its lead cut to one several times in the late going. The last of those was 24-23 before Kuhn secured the victory with a kill.
The third set was more of the same before Lawrence pulled out the win. Lowrey served the first three points for Grinnell in the fourth set and the hosts never looked back. They opened a seven-point lead at 21-14 on Lowrey's kill before the Vikings cut the gap to 23-20. However, Kuhn had two kills that sandwiched a Lawrence point to finish off the win.
With Saturday's performance, Willhardt moved up to sole possession of second place for solo blocks in a career at Grinnell with 96. On the season all-time chart, movement came from Kuhn (fifth in kills with 420, sixth in attack attempts with 1,093 and 10th in aces with 46), Roth (seventh in assists with 1,032) and Lowrey (seventh in aces with 50).
As a team, Grinnell has 218 aces this season which is fifth-best for the program. The Pioneers' 1,206 assists rank seventh and 1,869 digs are 10th.
Grinnell travels to Dubuque next Friday to face the University of Dubuque and Loras College. Grinnell closes its home slate next Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest against Illinois Tech.
