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

Benedictine Box Score
Lake Forest Box Score

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (Sept. 16, 2016) – The North Central College women's volleyball team opened play at the Lake Forest College Triangular with a 3-0 win over Benedictine University, before suffering a 3-0 loss to the host Foresters in the evening match at the Lake Forest Sports & Recreation Center.
 
The opening match of the evening was back-and-forth over the first four sets as North Central claimed the opener 25-20, while the two teams proceeded to trade the next three sets.
 
Benedictine bounced back to win the second set by an identical 25-20 score, while the Cardinals faced an early deficit in the third set as well, as the Eagles (5-6) jumped out to an early 8-0 lead.  North Central showed some resiliency in the third set, mounting a huge comeback to score 13 of the next 15 points to take a 13-10 lead.
 
The Cardinals hung on to the lead the remainder of the third set and capped off the 25-20 win on a service ace off the hand of Anna Billman but could not carry that momentum into the fourth set, falling 25-21.
 
In the fifth and final set, the Cardinal offense could not be stopped, as eight kills and three service aces propelled North Central to a 15-8 victory.  After falling behind 2-0 to begin the set, the Cardinals rattled off 10 of the next 12 points to quickly take a 10-4 lead.  The rally was highlighted by two service aces from Rachel Elshoff and another from Cara Howell, while Sarah Geosling added three kills over the stretch.
 
Four Cardinals finished in double figure kills, led by Billman's 13, while Elshoff and Howell each added 12 and Geosling finished with 11.  Alexa Zimbelman led the way with 45 assists and 25 digs on defense, while Howell led the team with six of the Cardinals 17 total service aces.
 
With little time in between matches, the Cardinals came out flat against Lake Forest in the nightcap, dropping the opening set 25-22.  The set was up for grabs late with the score knotted 22-22, but a Forester kill followed by a Cardinal attack error set up set point for the hosts, before capping the set with a service ace to take an early 1-0 advantage.
 
The Cardinal attack never recovered over the final two sets, hitting at a .000 percentage, finishing each set with six kills and six attack errors, dropping each set 25-16 and 25-18, respectively.
 
North Central hit just .010 as a team against the Foresters (4-6), as Billman led the team with five kills, while Annmarie Franz added four kills on just five attack attempts.  Zimbelman dished out a team-high 16 assists, while tying Olivia Hanley for the team lead with 12 digs on defense.
 
North Central begins College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play on Tuesday, Sept. 20, playing host to 17^th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University at 7 p.m. inside Gregory Arena.  Links to live video and in-game statistics are available HERE.