The Lawrence University volleyball team finished off their season with a pair of tough conference losses to Carroll College and Beloit College. Tuesday, Oct. 28 Lawrence traveled to Carroll College in their second to last match of the season. The Vikings were looking to finish their season strong against Carroll. Carroll came out strong in the first game and took a 1-0 lead in the match winning, 25-22. The Vikings proved that the close game was not by chance as they battled back and took the next two games 25-21 and 25-22. Carroll then rallied against the Vikings to push a game five as they won game four 25-15. Carroll was able to overcome the Vikings tough play and won the last game by only four points, 15-11 and took the match.
The Vikings then finished off their season at home with their first annual breast cancer awareness game against Beloit College. The Vikings took donations all week, sold t-shirts at the game, and wore pink shirts during the match to try and raise awareness for breast cancer and breast cancer research.
The Vikings were facing a tough Beloit team who were 7-1 in conference coming into the game. They played well in the first game. They blocked well and played tough defense but were unable to stop the hard hitting of Beloit. Beloit took the first game 25-23. The Vikings were not going to quit in their last match at home and fought hard in the second game. They seemed to have overcome some of the consistency problems that have been plaguing them all season.
The Vikings pushed the second game to its limits and had a good chance to take the game, but a poor call by the referee gave Beloit the ball, a game point and eventually the game. The back and forth battle finally ended 31-29. It was unfortunate that it did not come until their last game, but the Vikings were finally able to play consistently from game to game for an entire match. They played very well again in the third game of the match and pushed a team that had only one loss in conference to its limits.
The Vikings made Beloit play their best game to win and left everything they had on the court. Beloit took the third and final game 25-22. The Vikings have had a rough season, but look forward to four out of five starters returning for next year. Congratulations on the season, ladies.