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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Benedictine Box Score
Coe Box Score

Oct. 30, 2009 - The North Central College volleyball team reached the 30-win plateau for the third time in school history on Friday, improving to 30-3 with 3-1 victories over Benedictine University and Coe College (Iowa) on the first day of the Benedictine Invitational at Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals are now just one win shy of the school single-season record for victories, set by the 1999 team which went 31-9.

North Central rolled to a 25-14 victory in the first set against Benedictine (14-14), and led through the early going of the second set before the Eagles rallied. The Cardinals were in position to score the winning point on three occasions, but were turned away when BU scored the final three points of the set and evened the match with a 30-28 victory.

The third set was tied, 16-16, before a 4-1 North Central run provided the hosts with some breathing room and they held on for a 25-20 win. The Eagles stormed in front by as many as seven points early in the fourth set and North Central trailed until a 4-0 run on the serve of Jenae Harner knotted the score at 18-18. Benedictine briefly took the lead once again, but three straight Cardinal points put North Central in front for good in a 25-22 win.

Harner led the Cardinals with 14 kills, while Stacie Mokros totaled 12 and Ali Briner and Crystal Wright each had 10. Alyssa Lantz turned in a team-high 39 assists and Harner and Jamie Drozd shared the team lead with three service aces each. Stephanie Ryding recorded 32 digs, with Harner adding 14, and Christy Hermann finished with five total blocks.

After opening the evening with a 3-0 win, Coe (9-24) was rested and ready to take on the Cardinals in the next round of matches, winning the opening set, 25-17. The Cardinals answered the bell and dominated the second set, winning, 25-10. The Kohawks led early in the third set, though North Central bounced back and tied the score on five occasions, the last of which occurred at 19-19. The Cardinals scored four of the next five points and posted a 25-22 victory.

Coe enjoyed a strong start to the fourth set as well, scoring five of the first six points. Once again, however, the Cardinals responded, tying the match at 14-14 before pulling ahead to a slim lead. Owning a 20-18 advantage, North Central scored five of the final six points, closing out the match on a kill by Mokros.

Wright finished with 18 kills for the Cardinals, with Harner adding 14 and Mokros tallying 11. Harner and Ryding each put up four service aces, and Ryding turned in a match-high 33 digs while Harner had 14 and Drozd had 15. Ryan Lally put up 46 assists.

North Central finishes play in the tournament on Saturday, taking on Monmouth College (Ill.) at 10 a.m. and Grinnell College (Iowa) at noon.