Juniors Kaylee Celus and Melina Teunis both reached significant milestones in Monmouth’s emphatic 3-1 win over Lake Forest on Friday. Celus recorded her 1000th career kill while Teunis earned her 200th career block against the Foresters.
“It’s awesome, and it feels really good having my whole team there to support me,” said Celus. “We were just connecting the passing. Our service struggled, but we really started dialing in; setters were working really hard, hitters were just trying to get the ball over. We were working really hard to stop them.”
The Scots snatched the first set from the visitors 25-23, and after dropping the second set 25-20, went on huge scoring runs in the third and fourth sets to knock off the 4th-place Foresters, who are now the six-seeded team in the upcoming conference tournament.
Celus led the Scots in kills with 15, and Teunis and Chloe Strachan each followed with five. Abby Viano led the hosts in kills on the night with seven, while Teunis followed close behind with five, earning her 200th block in the process, and Isa Hughes recorded five aces on the evening against the Foresters.
On Halloween, the Scots swept the Beloit Buccaneers in straight sets to finish conference play, taking each set by scores of 25-19, 25-15, and 25-17. This time, Celus led the Scots in both kills (11) and aces (3).
Focus now turns to conference tournament play; if Monmouth wins Tuesday night’s Round of 6 game versus Illinois College, they will play the top-seeded host Cornell College in Friday night’s semifinals. First serve on Friday night is still to be determined.
