Volleyball season comes to a disappointing end

Jon Mays

The Lawrence University volleyball team hosted the Lawrence Triangular last weekend with hopes of securing the final spot in the Midwest Conference Tournament. The Vikings faced two conference foes and needed to win both matches in order to advance to the tournament.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, they suffered a defeat to Beloit in the first of the two matches. Lawrence did not give up after their loss, despite knowing that their season would now be over after the weekend.
The following morning, the Vikings defeated Lake Forest in their final conference match of the season. Lawrence then faced UW-Stevens Point in the final match of the triangular and of their season, but with nothing on the line, the Vikings went down quietly.
Lawrence fought hard to keep their season alive against Beloit, but lost in three very close games: 25-23, 29-27, 25-21. The Vikings’ leading striker, junior Clare Bohrer, led the team with 10 kills.
Their following match, played against Lake Forest, proved to be another closely contested match. The Vikings, behind Bohrer’s 13 kills, defeated the Foresters in five games.
It seemed as though the Vikings were a bit worn out heading into their final match against UW-Stevens Point Saturday afternoon. Lawrence (13-16, 4-5 MWC) dropped three straight games in the final match of their season.
For the season, Bohrer led the team in kills with 303 – an average of 3.06 per game – and sophomore Shannon McLain followed closely behind with 250. Senior Melissa Schnettler was leading the team in kills before suffering a season-ending knee injury in late September.
Freshman Kathleen Rowland had 535 digs to lead the team, followed by sophomore Emma Kane with 243.
The future appears bright for the Vikings, who narrowly missed the conference tournament despite playing with a majority of underclassmen. Aside from Schnettler, the top eight leaders in kills were all underclassmen, so plenty of talent will return for next year’s campaign.