LAKE FOREST, Illinois — The Ripon volleyball program opened its eight-game Midwest Conference slate on Friday night, falling 3-1 (18-25, 25-18, 16-25, 20-25) to Lake Forest at the newly renovated Sports & Recreation Center.
 
Ripon (7-8, 0-1 MWC) fell behind early in the opening set as Lake Forest (2-10, 1-0 MWC), aided by a handful of Ripon attack errors, scored 11 of the first 16 points and prompted a Red Hawk timeout. Ripon shaved its deficit to four multiple times in the set, but a 5-0 run saw the Foresters doubling up Ripon, 18-9, near the end of the frame. Four consecutive points brought Ripon within seven at 22-15, but Lake Forest won the set 25-18 soon after on a Ripon service error.
 
LFC scored three of the first four points in set two, but Ripon responded with the next four to lead 5-3 following a trio of bad sets by the Foresters. From there, Lake Forest closed to within one on multiple occasions, but the Red Hawks answered each time. A kill by Lainie Heizler opened up a 15-9 Ripon advantage, forcing the first LFC timeout of the set. Lake Forest would not go away, scoring eight of the next 10 points to make it an 18-17 game, but Ripon punched back and scored the next five points to buoy its lead. Moments later, a kill by Emily Braun and an LFC attack error knotted the match up at one apiece.
 
The teams went back-and-forth at the beginning of the pivotal third set, but a 5-0 run put the hosts up 10-5. From there, Ripon crept within three, though Lake Forest used another 5-0 run to push its lead to 15-7. The lead for the Foresters the rest of the set hovered between six and 13 points as Ripon dropped set three 25-16.
 
After an evenly matched first 18 points, Ripon claimed a 10-9 lead near the midway point of set four. However, Lake Forest rattled off a 9-3 run from there, pulling in front 18-13 to grab the lead for good. The Red Hawks continued to battle and a kill by Haylee Kast trimmed Lake Forest's advantage to 21-17, but the host Foresters were too much down the stretch and won the stanza 25-20.
 
Heizler led Ripon with seven kills on 16 swings to hit .313, while Braun notched a double-double with 14 assists and 12 digs. Bella Kasuboski chipped in 11 digs to help Ripon's cause on defense.
 
Each team had six aces, but Lake Forest had more kills (43-27), blocks (8-5), assists (34-20) and digs (54-39).
 
Ripon has a quick turnaround, hosting Marian at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 28.
 
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