Lake Forest College Sports Information
October 27, 2007
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Foresters Split MWC Matches, Nicole Baich Breaks Team’s Career Kills Record
Team wins in three games at Illinois College, falls at Monmouth in four

Nicole Baich
MONMOUTH, Ill. - The Lake Forest College volleyball team split a pair of Midwest Conference road matches over the weekend (October 26-27). The Foresters won 31-29, 30-23, 30-25 at Illinois College on Friday but fell 29-31, 30-23, 30-20, 30-12 at Monmouth College the next afternoon. The team is 9-17 on the season and finished its MWC schedule with a league record of 4-5. Illinois College fell to 6-19 overall and 2-5 in the conference. Monmouth raised its overall record to 18-11 and MWC mark to 6-3.

Senior Nicole Baich (Westchester, Ill./Nazareth Academy) pounded out a match-high 17 kills at Illinois College. Junior Ashley Cretacci (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) added 13 kills and freshman Mandi Mulliner (Elmhurst, Ill./York) chipped in with 10. Junior Ashleigh Martinez (Chula Vista, Calif./Hilltop) finished the night with 47 assists and Baich had two of the team’s four aces.

On the defensive side, junior Lisa Sturgill (Sheboygan, Wis./Sheboygan South) led all players with 26 digs, senior Merissa Martin (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills) had 19, and sophomore Regina Cyvas (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy) added 10. Baich had a hand in two of the squad’s three blocks.

Baich earned match-high honors again on Saturday with 16 kills while Cretacci and Mulliner each finished with 10. Martinez had 34 assists and Martin recorded a pair of aces.

Sturgill led the visitors in digs again with 29, Martin matched her total of 19 from the night before, and Martinez reached double figures with 10. Mulliner had a team-high five blocks, including three solos.

With 33 kills on the weekend, Baich surpassed Jenny Anderson as the program’s all-time leader with 1,376 career kills. Anderson recorded 1,374 from 2000-03. Baich is also the team’s record-holder with 470 career blocks.

Lake Forest will face Monmouth again on Friday (November 2) at league champion Carroll College. The MWC Tournament quarterfinal match will begin at 4:00 p.m. and the winner will take on second-seeded St. Norbert College in the semifinals at 7:00. Semifinal winners will face off in the tourney final at 1:00 the following afternoon.

Box Score