RIPON, Wisconsin— The Ripon volleyball program continued Midwest Conference action on Saturday, falling 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-16) to Illinois College inside Weiske Gymnasium.
 
Illinois College (10-10, 2-0 MWC) came out strong on Saturday after a four-set win on Friday night at Lawrence as the Lady Blues scored five of the first six points against Ripon (7-11, 0-3 MWC) in set one. A 4-0 spurt by the Red Hawks gave Ripon an early 10-8 lead, but IC ripped off nine points in a row moments later to lead 19-11. Though Ripon made it a game again and cut its deficit to 19-15, IC ended the set with back-to-back kills to take set one.
 
The Lady Blues again put Ripon in an early hole to begin set two, opening up a 15-5 advantage. Ripon chipped away after that, going on a 10-2 run to make it a 17-15 game. Both sides went back and forth from there, but the Lady Blues ended the stanza on a 5-1 run to claim a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Ripon punched back in set three, taking multiple leads early. With the teams tied at seven, IC scored six of the next seven to grab a 13-8 lead, a lead it would not give up the rest of the afternoon. The Red Hawks got no closer than four the rest of the way and were swept by the MWC-leading Lady Blues.
 
Ellie Ove and Lainie Heizler each had a team-high 8 kills for Ripon, while Haylee Kast recorded 5. Emily Braun netted a match-high 22 assists and a team-high 13 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.
 
The match was closer than the sets indicated, as IC had slim advantages in aces (6-5), blocks (8-4) and assists (37-26). The Lady Blues tallied 39 kills to Ripon's 27 and 54 digs to the Red Hawks' 38.
 
Ripon next entices Cornell on Saturday, October 12 at 1 p.m. inside Weiske Gymnasium.
 
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