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

Box Score

Sept. 27, 2016 – After a shaky first set, the North Central College women's volleyball team settled down and came back to win the final three sets in convincing fashion over Wisconsin Lutheran College on Tuesday night inside Gregory Arena.

After a kill and three straight blocks set the tone early in favor of the Warriors (8-10), the Cardinals faced an early 8-3 deficit but crawled back to knot the score at 21 late.  After a Rachel Elshoff service ace gave the Cardinals their first lead of the set, back-to-back attack errors allowed the Warriors to once again regain the lead 23-22.

After two more ties, the Warriors finally claimed the first set as back-to-back kills from Carly Warner and Britley Grulke ended the opening set 26-24 in favor of Wisconsin Lutheran.  North Central led the kill margin 13-11, but were doomed by 12 attack errors to the Warriors five.

The Cardinal attack found their groove in the second set however, as a 9-2 run midway through the set gave North Central a 19-12 lead and forced a Wisconsin Lutheran timeout.  The North Central offense could not be contained down the stretch, finishing with five kills over the team's final six points of the set.  The Cardinals racked up 17 kills over the second set, hitting at a .375 clip.

North Central fell behind early in set three, as a 10-6 Warrior lead forced a Cardinal timeout.  Coming out of the timeout, the Cardinals went on the set's pivotal run, a 13-4 run highlighted by three kills from Julie Laugel while Cara Howell added a pair, to take a commanding 19-14 lead late and would go on to win the set 25-18.

Set four featured much of the same domination from the Cardinal attack, cruising out to a 19-12 lead to force a second Wisconsin Lutheran timeout, and went on to win the final set 25-18 as Howell capped off the match with a kill.

Howell and Elshoff each tallied 14 kills to pace the offensive attack, while Anna Billman and Sarah Geosling each finished in double figures with 11 and 10, respectively.  Val Hunt dished out a match-high 33 assists, while Alexa Zimbelman added 19.  Defensively, Elshoff led all players with 26 digs, while Billman recorded six total blocks on the evening.

The Warrior attack was led by Grulke's 14 kills, but the sophomore outside hitter accounted for over 38 percent of the team's total attacks, finishing with just a .148 hitting percentage on 61 total attempts.

North Central wraps up a five-match home stretch on Tuesday, Oct. 4, playing host to 25^th-ranked Millikin University in a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) matchup slated for 7 p.m.