Cougars Volleyball suffers 4-set loss to Illinois Wesleyan

Alex Staab – ICC Harbinger

Bloomington, IL – The Illinois Central College Volleyball team (1-0) had a great opportunity to travel down to Bloomington Tuesday evening to take on an NCAA team. That team was Division 3 Illinois Wesleyan (0-0).

Out of the gate in set 1, the Cougars had momentum. Some good swings from players like Sophomore Leah TerBush and fellow Sophomore Kenzie Rhodes had things going well for the visitors. In fact, the first set even went to ICC, 25-21.

At this point, the Cougars had what looked like an advantage to potentially upend an NCAA opponent. That advantage was decreased and eventually eliminated. In set two, it was practically all Titans until late in the set, when ICC had a 3-point run to pull within 3 points that set, but that would be all they could get, dropping set 2, 21-25.

The third set was probably Illinois Wesleyan’s best set of the match, and things started off with a bang, as their players at the net brought these powerful swings that, at times, overwhelmed the ICC players. The Titans, under 22nd-year Head Coach Kim Nelson-Brown, really took ahold of the match in the 3rd set, behind that powerful presence at the net, as well as your basic things like serves and defense. Titans took the third set, 25-14.

The fourth and what ended up being the final set all Titans yet again. The Cougars’ passing had broken down, and some of the swings just weren’t right. Despite those things, the final set actually started off going back and forth between the two sides. Some errors here and there for both the Cougars and the Titans kept things relatively close this particular set, but the Titans already had that momentum they needed and ran with it. In the end, the Cougars fell in the final set, 19-25, and lost the match, 3 sets to 1.

After the game, the Titans Head Coach continued a string of coaches to praise the efforts of the Cougar Volleyball program.

“It’s always nice to go against ICC because they have a strong block, they play great defense, Sue (Sinclair) always does a great job of getting prepared.”

As far as her players’ presence at the net, Coach Nelson-Brown had some good things to say about them as well.

“Kyleigh (Block) has been a 4-year starter. We’ve got Tyler (Brown) returning, who’s the first ever girl to be named First-Team All-American in program history. I see players like that being offensive threats.”

Cougars Head Coach Sue Sinclair pointed out what ended up being the key to ICC losing the match in the end.

“I think that Wesleyan started serving us very effectively. When your passing breaks down, you have a predictable offense.”

The player that may have been the brightest spot amongst the 3-1 Cougar loss was Kenzie Rhodes. The Sophomore from Mackinaw had 38 assists and 10 digs to lead both categories for ICC. Coach Sinclair was quite impressed with her efforts.

“She had tremendous pursuit of the ball. As we were scrambling at times, she never gave up. I really loved her tenacity.”

Other statistical leaders included Sophomore Maria Alferova (2 aces, 18 digs), Sophomore Selena Scudder (16 digs), Sophomore Taylor Shaw (10 digs), Sophomore Leah TerBush (9 kills), and Sophomore Claire Milnes (4 blocks, 10 kills).

Due to the tragic events from Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area, the volleyball program is no longer participating in the San Jacinto Tournament. Rather, the Cougars will travel to Toledo, Ohio this weekend to participate in the Owens Express Invitational. For the schedule of Cougar matches, visit the ICC website.

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