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

Box Score

Oct. 20, 2017 – With their back against the wall facing a 2-1 deficit, the North Central College women's volleyball team spoiled Carroll University's attempt at their first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) win of the season, charging back with a pair of dominant sets to complete the 3-2 comeback win in front of an electric crowd on Homecoming Weekend.

It was the Cardinals who took the early lead in the opening set, as a Carroll service error followed by consecutive kills from Claire Vrabec broke an 11-11 tie, forcing a Pioneer timeout in the process.

North Central held a commanding 22-17 lead late, but three straight Carroll points quickly trimmed the lead to just two.  The Pioneers bailed the Cardinals out the following point with an attack error, while Vrabec set home the winning kill three points later to seal a 25-22 first set victory.

After hitting just .095 over the first set, the Carroll offense came alive during the next two sets, racking up 17 kills in the second set to go along with 12 more in the third, while the North Central serve committed five errors en route to the 25-21 loss.

Carroll (10-16, 0-6 CCIW) jumped out to an early lead in the third set as well, opening the set on a 10-2 run, forcing North Central to use both timeouts during that period.

The Cardinals did not back down however, clawing all the way back to knot the score 21-21 late, but that would prove to be as close as North Central would come to the lead as Carroll closed the set scoring the final four points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

North Central (12-5, 3-3 CCIW) quickly shook off the pair of tough losses, charging back to take a 9-3 lead early, highlighted by a pair of service aces from Olivia Hanley, while Vrabec also added an ace during the run.  The Cardinals completely controlled the set from that point forward, scoring four of the last six points, including two service aces and a kill from Julie Laugel.

After choosing to take a minimal break between sets, the Cardinals returned to the court with a vengeance, breaking wide open a 4-4 tie, closing the set on an improbable 11-1 run fueled by the home crowd.  Three more Cardinal service aces, as well as a pair of kills from each of Cara Howell and Vrabec highlighted the run, while Maya Bryant finished the Pioneers off with a kill off a dig from Hanley to complete the Cardinal comeback.

Despite committing 16 service errors over the course of the evening, North Central held a 12-5 margin in service aces, while the Cardinal block came up huge, finishing with 10 total blocks to Carroll's four, led by six total blocks from Anna Billman.  Five Cardinals finished with an ace, led by four off the hand of Laugel, while Howell and Hanley each added three.

Vrabec paced a Cardinal offense that hit .239 as a team with 16 kills, while Howell added 11 to go along with 16 digs on defense.  Hanley led the team with 25 digs, while Laugel and Vrabec also finished in double figures with 13 and 10, respectively.  Bryant finished with a team-leading 22 assists, while Alexa Zimbelman finished right behind with 21.

Dana Voltolina led the Pioneer offense with 16 kills, while Sydney Wilkins finished with 11 and Emma Przeslicke led all players with 43 assists.

North Central hits the road one last time in the regular season, traveling to Carthage College on Tuesday, Oct. 24, scheduled at 7 p.m. inside Tarble Arena.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.