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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

Oct. 2, 2012 - The North Central College volleyball team kept itself in the thick of the chase for the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Championship on Tuesday, dominating from beginning to end in a 3-0 whitewash of the Augustana College Vikings at the Carver Center.

The Cardinals (15-4, 4-0 CCIW) remains tied with ninth-ranked Elmhurst College for first place in the CCIW standings. North Central has now won six of its last seven matches.

The Cardinals scored seven of the first eight points in the opening set, and pulled ahead, 11-4, to prompt an Augustana timeout. North Central stayed a step ahead until a 3-0 run, capped off by a Kayla Murphy block, boosted the lead to 19-13 and the Vikings called their second timeout. The respite did the hosts little good, as the Cardinals scored the next five points as well. Augustana got three points back before Murphy's kill sealed a 25-16 North Central win.

After falling behind, 4-1, the Vikings (13-5, 2-2 CCIW) rallied to tie the score at 7-7, but North Central scored 10 of the next 12 points to pull ahead once again, 17-9. Augustana rallied and narrowed the gap to 20-17 before the Cardinals scored the final five points of the set to win, 25-17.

North Central saved its strongest performance for the third set, opening with a 10-3 surge and continuing to stretch the lead until finishing off the set and the match, 25-12.

Jenae Harner paced the Cardinals with 13 kills, while Laura Kluk finished with 30 assists and 12 digs. Jessie Fiala and Kedryn Orrison shared the team lead with three service aces and Amanda Walker totaled four blocks.

The Cardinals travel to Bloomington, Ill., on Friday and Saturday for the Illinois Wesleyan University Barker Classic.