PICTURED ABOVE: Junior Shelby Knowles (LEFT) led the Thunder on Tuesday night with 12 kills and Hannah Japp (RIGHT) added six kills with three total blocks.

Lake Forest, Ill. – The Wheaton volleyball team earned a 3-0 non-conference win at Lake Forest College on Tuesday night. Wheaton (3-2) will head to Dubuque, Iowa this weekend for four matches at the Loras Invitational.

Junior outside hitter Shelby Knowles tallied 12 kills tonight against the Foresters, with eight digs. Freshman Sydney Vischer posted seven kills and sophomore Hannah Japp added six kills.

Freshman setter Kelly Thornton distributed 26 assists in the match and she added three service aces with eight digs. Senior Kelli Manning had a team-high 10 digs and Japp recorded three total blocks, including two solo blocks.

Head coach Brittany Smith noted of her team's performance, "It was great to see the team finish in three. We had some terrific rallies, but just need to clean up a few things for play this weekend. Overall, I'm seeing the right things as our team continues to progress."
 
In Wheaton's 25-19 victory in the opening set, the Thunder jumped out to a 10-5 lead. However, the Foresters trimmed Wheaton's lead to 11-9 before Wheaton again stretched out its lead to 16-10. Wheaton continued to maintain a healthy lead in the first set and the set was capped off on a kill by Knowles for the final point.

In a 25-20 win in the second set, the Thunder again jumped out to an early lead with a 9-4 advantage. The Foresters responded with a 5-1 surge to cut Wheaton's lead to 10-9. The next 16 points were tightly contested, leading to an 18-18 tie. Consecutive kills by Knowles and Vischer gave Wheaton a 20-10 lead and the Thunder also picked up another point to take a 21-18 lead. Wheaton picked up a pair of kills by Vischer and an additional kill by Juliana Sudfeld in the final six points to earn the 25-20 victory.

The third set opened tightly contested as the teams were tied at 11-11. The Forester took their first lead of the match, pulling ahead 15-12, but Wheaton quickly responded to tie the match at 16-16. Lake Forest regained the lead with a 20-18 advantage, but the Thunder responded as Japp tallied a kill and a LFC mistake tied the set at 20-20. A kill by Lake Forest's Paige Jesperson gave the hosts a 21-20 lead, but it would be the Foresters' final lead of the night. Wheaton registered a point on the next opportunity to tie the score at 21-21 and a Thornton service ace gave the guests a 22-21 lead. The Thunder closed out the set for the 25-22 win and the decisive 3-0 victory.

Note Worthy: Wheaton has won 10 consecutive matches against Lake Forest, a streak that dates back to 2006...Knowles has registered 12 or more kills in each of Wheaton's five matches to open the 2015 season.