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Box Score

Sept. 11, 2012 - The North Central College volleyball team endured a stubborn challenge from the Illinois Wesleyan University Titans Tuesday evening, but the Cardinals made the right plays in key situations and opened College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play with a 3-1 victory at Gregory Arena.

The win was the seventh straight for North Central (9-1), which defeated the Titans for the fifth consecutive year.

Illinois Wesleyan (5-5) emerged with a 25-23 win in the first set, scoring four of their final five points on Cardinal errors and negating a slim deficit. The hosts responded by opening the second set with a 5-0 run and extending the lead to 8-1 before the Titans got untracked. IWU eventually rallied to tie the score at 22-22, but the Cardinals came through with three of the final four points, including two kills from Jenae Harner, to even the match with a 25-23 win.

North Central trailed early in the third set but quickly rallied on the serve of reigning CCIW Offensive Player of the Week Kedryn Orrison, who recorded three service aces in four points to nudge the Cardinals in front. After trailing by as many as five points, IWU attempted another late rally, closing to within two points before Kayla Murphy closed out another 25-23 win with a kill. 

The Cardinals were unable to gain any breathing room in the fourth set until a trio of IWU attacking errors helped North Central build a late 21-16 advantage. The Titans once again narrowed the gap to 22-20, but Murphy responded by putting away two of the hosts' final three points to seal the match with a 25-21 victory.

Orrison and Amanda Walker shared North Central's team lead with 12 kills each, and Orrison also finished with a career-high five service aces. Sarah Eggert finished with 25 digs while Laura Kluk, also named one of the CCIW's Players of the Week earlier in the day, totaled 41 assists and 15 digs.

Morgan Howard led the Titans with 12 kills, while Maddie Greybar finished with 11. Stephanie Polich recorded 29 digs and Erin Wachtel had 46 assists.

North Central plays in the Benedictine University Triangular on Saturday, taking on the Eagles at 10 a.m. before facing Lake Forest College at noon.