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Calumet Box Score
St. Norbert Box Score
Monmouth Box Score
Aurora Box Score
  
AURORA, Ill. (Sept. 13, 2010) - The North Central College volleyball team placed fourth in the six-team Jim Coleman Memorial Tournament at Aurora University on Friday and Saturday, posting a 2-2 record after splitting matches on both days.

The Cardinals opened the tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Calumet College of Saint Joseph (Ind.), but lost by the same score to St. Norbert College (Wis.) later in the day. North Central (6-3) lost a 3-2 match to Monmouth College (Ill.) in Saturday's first match, but rallied to knock off the tournament hosts, 3-2, in the final match of the weekend.

North Central encountered little resistance against Calumet (1-10), winning the first two sets, 25-8 and 25-9, before the Cardinals' reserves entered the match and won the third set, 25-20. Joelle Lusson led the attack with eight kills, while Jenae Harner turned in five service aces and Anna Wirtz turned in four aces and a team-high nine digs. Megan Postema contributed a career-high six total blocks.

St. Norbert (7-1) came out on top of a close first set against the Cardinals, 25-21, before dominating the next two frames and winning, 25-16 and 25-17. Crystal Wright put up a team-high nine kills for North Central, which also got 14 digs each from Wirtz and Kristina Antle. Amber Ladwig added six total blocks, while Kelly Ator finished with five.

North Central dropped the first two sets to Monmouth (7-2), 25-22 and 25-17, before rallying and squaring the match by claiming the next two, 25-19 and 25-17. The Cardinals came agonizingly close to coming all the way back and securing the victory, but lost the decisive fifth set, 15-13.

Alex Nelson and Kayla Murphy were North Central's top attackers, turning in 10 kills each, while Ryan Lally put up 45 assists and three service aces. Sarah Eggert put up 16 digs, with Wirtz adding 15. Ladwig led defensive efforts at the net with seven blocks, while Postema and Lauren Pool each had six.

The Cardinals' final match followed the same script, as Aurora (2-7) won the first two sets, 25-21 and 29-27. Once again, North Central bounced back and claimed 25-17 and 25-22 victories in the third and fourth sets, and this time made off with the win, 15-13, in the final frame.

Wright had a team-high 11 kills in the finale, while Lally totaled 42 assists. Eggert finished with 31 digs, while Ladwig totaled eight blocks and Pool finished with seven. Postema contributed four service aces.

Millikin University won the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record. Lally, who finished the weekend with 125 assists and 30 digs, was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The Cardinals will host Millikin in their first home match of the 2010 season on Thursday. Play is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.