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

Box Score

WHEATON, Ill. (Sept. 29, 2017) – Coming out of the gate with a vengeance Friday evening at Wheaton College, the North Central College women's volleyball team earned their first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) win of the season, behind a season-high attack percentage on offense.
 
Holding a 8-7 lead early in the opening set, North Central (8-3, 1-1 CCIW) caught fire to the tune of a 10-0 run to quickly put the set out of reach.  Cara Howell highlighted the run with four kills, including three consecutive at one point, while Alexa Zimbelman aced the Thunder on two occasions.
 
The Cardinals went on to win the first set 25-14, hitting a blistering .632, recording 13 kills to just one error, while the Thunder hit .000, finishing with just five kills while committing just as many errors.
 
The North Central offense cooled off over the course of the second set, as the Cardinals trailed 18-15 late, but coming out of a timeout, a kill from Anna Billman, followed by a Wheaton attack error and a service ace off the hand of Claire Vrabec knotted the score at 18 all.
 
After the two teams traded a pair of points, back-to-back kills from Sarah Geosling and Julie Laugel, as well as a service ace from Rachel Elshoff gave North Central a late 22-20 lead, but the Cardinals could not hang on down the stretch as Wheaton closed the set on a 5-1 run to sneak out a 25-23 win.
 
The Cardinals quickly shook off the tough second set loss and jumped out to an early 11-6 lead, forcing a Thunder timeout, as kills from Zimbelman, Vrabec and Elshoff sparked the Cardinal rally.  North Central continued to pour on the offense, finishing the set with a match-high 16 kills, cruising to a 25-15 win.
 
North Central carried that momentum into the fourth and final set, as Vrabec began the set with consecutive service aces, while a kill from Elshoff and a bad Wheaton set gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.  North Central would not surrender the lead the remainder of the match, finishing all four set with double digit kills while hitting .310 over the course of the fourth set.
 
The Cardinals hit .297 as a team, racking up 56 kills to just 18 errors, while the Thunder offense finished with 29 kills but committed 23 errors.
 
Howell and Elshoff each finished with 13 kills to pace the Cardinal offense, while Billman added nine and Geosling recorded eight.  Zimbelman handed out a match-high 41 assists, while Elshoff led the team with four aces and Vrabec and Howell each added three.
 
Madeline Moore was the lone Thunder to finish in double figure kills with 10, while Alecia Funk led the team with 11 assists and Jessica Bosse added 15 digs on defense.
 
North Central continues CCIW play on Tuesday, Oct. 3, traveling to Millikin University with a scheduled start time of 7 p.m. inside the Griswold Center, while the Big Blue enter play ranked 12^th in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.