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

Box Score

Oct. 23, 2018 – In a tightly contested battle inside Gregory Arena, the North Central College women's volleyball team fell just shy of its first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) win on Tuesday, falling to Millikin University, 3-0.

Millikin (14-15, 4-3 CCIW) jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the opening set, forcing a North Central timeout, but the Cardinals regained composure to score six of the next seven points to even the score 7-7.  Sarah Geosling and Kimberly Epker teamed up on a block to start the rally, while Anna Billman capped the 6-1 run with a kill off an assist from Kiarah Horn.

After the Big Blue opened up a 16-11 lead midway through the set, the Cardinals played spoilers yet again, as a pair of kills from Reagan Raymer and a handful of Millikin errors allowed North Central to knot the score yet again 18-18.

A block from Horn and Billman on the following point gave North Central its first lead of the contest 19-18, but the Big Blue responded right back with a three-point swing to re-take the lead 21-19.

Trailing by just one late, the Cardinals were unable to eclipse the Big Blue lead as a kill and service ace off the hand of Lauren Brummel sealed the first set 25-22 in favor of the Big Blue.

Shaking off the tough opening set loss, the Cardinals scored the first four points of the second set on a pair of kills from Claire Vrabec, while also taking advantage of two Millikin errors.

Opening up its largest lead of the set 19-13, a service ace from Geosling and a kill from Billman forced a Millikin timeout with North Central in control of the set needing just six points for the win.

A Big Blue ball handling error increased the Cardinal lead 20-13 when the wheels fell off for North Central, as Millikin rattled off 12 of the final 15 points to once again steal away the set 25-23.

After the devastating second-set loss, the Cardinal offense fell cold, finishing with just six kills to six attack errors in the third set, while Millikin tallied a match-high 16 kills to close out the match with a 25-18 victory.

Vrabec led the Cardinal offense with 10 kills on the evening, while Billman added seven and Raymer finished with six.  Horn handed out 20 assists, while Katelynn Kuehl led the defense with 12 digs and Epker added five total blocks.  Billman also added a pair of blocks, giving her 200 on her career, good for ninth on the program's all-time list.

Peyton Jackson led all players with 13 kills for the Big Blue, while Emily Seegmiller finished with 11.  Rose Syversen dished out 30 assists, while also leading the team with 13 digs.  Maddi Holland added a match-high six total blocks on defense.

North Central closes out the 2018 schedule on Friday, Oct. 26 against Wheaton College inside Gregory Arena, with Senior Night festivities prior to the first serve.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.