Women's Volleyball | 11/1/2014 2:24:00 PM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

DePauw Box Score

Benedictine Box Score

LISLE, Ill. (Nov. 1, 2014) – The North Central College women's volleyball team closed out tournament play on Saturday at the Eagle Classic, falling to DePauw University, 3-0 to open the afternoon before defeating host Benedictine University, 3-1 in the nightcap.

The Cardinals (18-14) struggles continued on offense in the opener against DePauw, finishing with an attack percentage of .031, connecting on 27 kills opposed to 24 attack errors. North Central held tight throughout the first half of the opening set, trailing 15-12, but the Tigers (24-8) scored the final ten points of the match to take a decisive 25-12 victory.

In set number two, North Central battled a back-and-forth set to take a 23-22 lead, but the DePauw offensive attack was too much to handle for the Cardinals, as the Tigers tallied a pair of kills with a key block in between to finish off the set 25-23.

Set three saw the same inconsistencies as the Cardinal attack was unable to put together a rally consisting of more than two points, eventually falling 25-18.

Julie Laugel led the Cardinals with seven kills while Kedryn Orrison added five.  Laura Kluk finished with 24 assists and nine digs, while Jill Galovic finished with a team-high 15 digs defensively.

In the nightcap against Benedictine, the Cardinals started slow trailing 13-10 early, but the offensive attack came alive scoring the next nine points, highlighted by a pair of kills from Laugel while Cara Howell and Amy Hermle teamed up for back-to-back blocks.  North Central held on the remainder of the set to take a 25-19 first set win.

After stumbling 25-20 in the second set, the Cardinals broke open a 20-20 tie in set number three, scoring five of the final six points behind two Claire Vrabec kills as well as another from Orrison, while Galovic added a key service ace down the stretch to give the Cardinals a 25-21 victory.

Trailing 17-8 midway through set number four, the Cardinals rallied with 10-straight points off the serve of Kluk, highlighted by three Laugel kills as well as kills from Hermle and Kluk to give the Cardinals a 18-17 advantage. 

After the Eagles (8-23) took a brief 21-19 lead, a pair of kills and a service ace from Howell as well as kills from Vrabec and Orrison sealed the deal for the Cardinals, securing a 25-22, set three win.

Four Cardinals finished with double-digit kills led by Laugel's 13, while Howell and Vrabec each finished with 11 and Orrison added 10.  Kluk finished with a game-high 35 assists and added 17 digs and four service aces, while Galovic paced the Cardinal defense with 22 digs and three aces.

North Central closes out the season on Wednesday, Nov. 5, playing host to Illinois Wesleyan University on Senior Night beginning at 7 pm.  Links to live video and statistics are available HERE.