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

Box Score

Oct. 31, 2017 – Closing out the season with Senior Night on Halloween, the North Central College women's volleyball dropped a heartbreaking opening set and never recovered, falling 3-0 at the hands of North Park University inside Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals (12-7, 3-5 CCIW) led almost the entire first set until North Park (16-14, 3-5 CCIW) battled back to tie the score 22-22 late.  After the two teams traded points, a kill off the hand of Cara Howell gave the Cardinals set point 24-23, but back-to-back kills from Lauren Wiltsie spoiled North Central's chance while Niki Ahlstrand put home the set-winning kill following a North Central timeout to steal a 26-24 first set win.

With the score tied 8-8 early in set number two, the Vikings put together what proved to be the pivotal run of the set, going on a 9-1 rally to open up a 17-9 advantage.

North Central did not back down from the fight however, clawing all the way back to pull to within one late 22-21, but the North Park lead proved insurmountable in the end as a pair of kills and a service ace sealed the win for the Vikings, 25-21 as the Cardinals hit just .024 on offense.

The offensive struggles continued into the third set for North Central, committing seven attack errors to only five kills, finishing with a -.048 hitting percentage, while the Vikings finished with a match-high 15 kills over the final set en route to the 25-18 win.

Julie Laugel led the Cardinal offense with eight kills on the evening, while Claire Vrabec and Anna Billman each added seven.  Alexa Zimbelman handed out 21 assists, while Billman and Sarah Geosling each tallied five total blocks on defense.

Wiltsie paced the Viking offense with a match-high 16 kills and three service aces, while Kelly Clinton also finished in double figures with 12.  Kajsa Meyer led the team with 34 assists, while Mia Riccolo recorded a team-leading 20 digs.

Howell wraps up her career ranked sixth on the program's career kills list with 1,082, while also ranking fourth with 149 career service aces and 10^th with 180 total blocks.  Laugel also ranks in the top-10 in kills, ranking ninth with 891, while Olivia Hanley finishes her career ranked sixth in digs with 1,237 and eighth in service aces with 127.