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

Central Box Score

Trine Box Score

Oct. 13, 2017 – In their final regular-season tournament of the season, the North Central College women's volleyball team scored a pair of victories over Central College and Trine University, hosting the 2017 Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament inside Gregory Arena.

North Central (11-4) opened the day with a dominant three-set win over Central College (Iowa), but had to fight back from an 8-2 deficit early.  Following a timeout, the Cardinals responded with five straight points, highlighted by a pair of kills from Anna Billman, while multiple Dutch errors pulled the Cardinals to within one, 8-7.

The Cardinals hung tight down the stretch and were able to break open a 19-all tie, as a pair of service aces from Cara Howell and two more Central errors handed North Central a 23-19 lead late.  A Dutch service error, followed by an attack error gave the Cardinals the 25-20 first-set victory.

Holding a 12-10 lead midway through the second set, the Cardinal broke things open, taking charge with a 10-0 rally that was led by five kills by the North Central offense while Howell added yet another kill.  The Cardinals went on to take the set 25-13, hitting .296 to the Dutch's .075, finishing with a match-high 12 kills.

Set three was more of the same dominance from North Central as back-to-back kills from Howell and Julie Laugel, followed by a service ace off the hand of Howell opened up a 14-8 advantage and the Cardinals never looked back from that point on, closing out the match with a 25-16 third-set victory.

Howell was the lone player to record double digit kills, finishing with 10, while also leading all players with six service aces.  Billman finished right behind with nine kills, while Laugel added seven and Alexa Zimbelman handed out 28 assists.  Defensively, Claire Vrabec  finished with a team-leading eight digs, while Howell and Billman each added a block.

The second match was a bit of an adventure for North Central, opening play against Trine with a dominant 25-14 win in the opening set, as the Thunder (9-9) offense hit -.107 to the Cardinals' .208, but fell behind early in the second and never recovered, falling 25-20.

With the match all square at a set apiece, the Cardinals once again played catch-up in the third set, trailing 19-17 late, but three consecutive kills from Howell, Billman and Laugel quickly turned the tables to overtake the lead 20-19.  A Trine ball handling error, followed by a kill from Laugel and a service ace from Howell gave the Cardinals a commanding 23-19 lead late, forcing the second Thunder timeout in the last three plays.

North Central went on to close out the third set 25-22, but could not carry that momentum into the fourth, as Trine scored the first 11 points of the set en route to a 25-13 win.

The Cardinals quickly brushed off the tough loss however, as the offense came back alive to hit .375, scoring eight of their 15 points via kill.  North Central jumped out to a 4-1 lead early and never trailed, as a kill from Vrabec gave the Cardinals set point 14-7 and would close out the match with another kill two points later to seal the win.

Howell once again paced the Cardinal offense with 11 kills and three more service aces, while Billman added 10 kills as well as three service aces of her own.  Zimbelman led all players with 29 assists, while Olivia Hanley led the defense with 27 digs.

North Central finished the day with 21 service aces over the course of the two matches, led by nine from Howell, moving her into sixth on the program's all-time list. 

North Central is null on the second day of the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament, but plays host to Elmhurst College in a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) match on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.