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

Rockford Box Score
UW-Oshkosh Box Score

Oct. 12, 2012 - The North Central College volleyball team enjoyed a strong start to its lone home tournament of the season on Friday, posting a pair of 3-0 victories in the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament at Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals (20-5) improved to 5-1 at home this season and eclipsed the 20-win plateau for the eighth time in Karen Bunkenburg's 12 seasons as head coach. Bunkenburg now has 266 coaching victories at North Central, tying Marcy Thurwachter (1985-97) for the most in school history.

North Central opened the tournament with a 3-0 victory over Rockford College, its second win over the Regents (4-20) this season. The Cardinals met with little resistance in the first two sets, winning by scores of 25-14 and 25-15. In the third set, Rockford negated an early deficit and tied the score at 15-15, but North Central put together a 6-0 run, including five points on the serve of Katie Connolly, to pull ahead and eventually won, 25-19.

Kedryn Orrison hit .625 and shared the team lead in kills with Laura Kluk and Amanda Hilmer, as each had 10. Kluk also added 37 assists and contributed three blocks to match the team-high total posted by Amanda Walker. Sarah Eggert put up a match-high 20 digs.

The Cardinals next faced off against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (14-12), which defeated 24th-ranked Carthage College, 3-1, before taking the court against North Central. The hosts fought off the Titans in three closely-contested sets, 25-23, 27-25 and 25-21.

North Central tied a season high with 12 total blocks in its second match of the day and closed strong in each of the three sets, scoring the final five points of the third frame to complete the sweep. Orrison led the Cardinals with seven total blocks, while Walker recorded three solo blocks. Jenae Harner finished with a team-high 12 kills and Orrison totaled nine. Kluk ended the match with 39 assists and Eggert tallied 16 digs and four service aces.

The Cardinals return to action in the tournament on Saturday, taking on Aurora University at noon and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville at 4 p.m.