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

Box Score

Oct. 30, 2012 - The 2012 campaign came to an end for the North Central College volleyball team on Tuesday, as the Cardinals lost, 3-1, to Wheaton College in the play-in match for the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament at Gregory Arena.

Wheaton (12-22) claimed two of the first three bitterly-fought sets before pulling away for a 25-19 win in the fourth and advancing to this weekend's conference tournament at Elmhurst College.

The opening set went back and forth before the Thunder scored six straight points to pull ahead, 19-13. Wheaton led, 23-17, when the Cardinals rallied on the serve of Kedryn Orrison, who tallied two service aces in a five-point run, and the hosts trailed by just a 23-22 count. The Thunder, however, eventually prevailed, 26-24.

North Central (23-11) evened the match at 1-1 after claiming the second set, 25-23, as Jenae Harner recorded kills for the Cardinals' final two points. The home team nearly claimed the third set as well, serving for a pair of set points, but saw Wheaton score the final three points and take the win, 28-26, after a service ace by Cora Nott and a block by Lauren Wilhite and Emily Buyse.

The Thunder opened the fourth set with a 9-4 run and led throughout, putting the match away with a late 6-0 run.

Harner led North Central with 20 kills and Amanda Hilmer added 19, both of which were season highs, and Orrison led the way with three service aces. Laura Kluk totaled 60 assists, the third-highest total ever by a North Central player in a four-set match, and Sarah Eggert finished with 27 digs. Harner finishes her four-year career sixth in the Cardinals' history with 1,163 kills.