Lake Forest College Sports Information
September 29, 2007
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Lake Forest Competes at UW-Platteville Invitational
Nicole Baich and Ashley Cretacci combined for 107 kills on the weekend


Lisa Sturgill
PLATTEVILLE, Wis. - The Forester volleyball team played four matches at the UW-Platteville Invitational over the weekend (September 28-29). Lake Forest fell 30-26, 30-23, 30-25 to UW-Stout and 30-27, 30-27, 30-17 to UW-Eau Claire on Friday and lost in four games (30-19, 30-22, 29-31, 30-16) to Platteville and in five games (25-30, 30-19, 30-22, 24-30, 15-12) to Cornell College on Saturday. The Foresters are now 4-13 on the season.

Senior Merissa Martin (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills) led Lake Forest with 10 kills against Stout and classmate Nicole Baich (Westchester, Ill./Nazareth Academy) added nine. Junior Ashleigh Martinez (Chula Vista, Calif./Hilltop) led the squad with 15 assists in two games and freshman Regina Cyvas (Downers Grove, Ill./Benet Academy) had a pair of aces. Defensively, junior Lisa Sturgill (Sheboygan, Wis./Sheboygan South) tallied 32 digs and Cyvas and sophomore Nicole Leonard (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Chaminade College Prep.) chipped in with 14 apiece. Baich led the team with four blocks.

Junior Ashley Cretacci (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) recorded a team-high 14 kills against Eau Claire and Martinez finished with 26 assists and two blocks. Sturgill had two aces and 31 digs.

Baich and Cretacci led the Foresters with 14 and 12 kills, respectively, against Platteville. Baich also added four blocks. Freshman Deena Blanchard (Sparta, Mich./Sparta) led the two setters with 18 assists, Cyvas had two aces, and Sturgill recorded 25 digs. Martin and Leonard also reached double figures with 15 and 12 digs, respectively.

Baich matched her career-high with 23 kills against Cornell and Cretacci set a new personal best with 20. Blanchard’s 50 assists were the most by a Forester setter this season, as were Sturgill’s 36 digs. Martin had 31 digs, Blanchard 14, and Cyvas 11. Baich led the squad with six blocks.

Sturgill was voted to the all-tournament team after finishing the four matches (15 games) with a total of 124 digs (8.27 per game).

Lake Forest will resume Midwest Conference play on Thursday (October 4) at Ripon College. The match will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Lake Forest - Stout Box Score
Lake Forest - Eau Claire Box Score
Lake Forest - Platteville Box Score
Lake Forest - Cornell Box Score