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

Box Score

DUBUQUE, Iowa (Sept. 7, 2018) – Despite winning the first two sets against Monmouth College on Friday in the opening match of the Loras College Invitational, the North Central College women's volleyball team hung on to earn their first victory of the season 3-2 over the Fighting Scots.
 
With the opening set tied 8-8 early on, the Cardinals rattled off four straight points in what proved to be the turning point of the set, as Kaitlyn Boelter-Eberhardt highlighted the run with a pair of service aces, while kills from Kimberly Epker and Kaylee Allensworth helped increase the lead 12-8.
 
North Central (1-4) held the lead the remainder of the opening set, ending with a 5-0 run as a service ace from Finnley Smith, followed by a kill from Sarah Geosling and a block from Geosling and Epker closed the set 25-17.
 
Holding a 13-8 advantage in kills after the first set, the Cardinal offense carried that momentum into set number two, hitting a match-high .308, racking up 14 kills to just two errors. 
 
The turning point of the second set came with the score once again tied 14-14, as a 5-1 Cardinal run gave North Central a 19-15 lead late.  Geosling recorded two kills during the run, while Claire Vrabec recorded another and a service ace off the hand of Ana Cvetkovic capped the run.
 
The Cardinals held on to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match after a service ace from Allensworth clinched a 25-20 second set victory, however the match took a turn for the worse for the Cardinal offense, hitting just .179 and -.040, respectively, over the next two sets.
 
After allowing the Fighting Scots (3-2) back into the match with losses in the third and fourth set, the Cardinals regrouped and held the lead for most of the final set but never by more than three.  With the score tied 13-13, Geosling came through with the biggest two kills of the evening, set up the first time from Maya Bryant and the second from Smith to hang on for the all-important first victory of the season.
 
Allensworth led all players with 17 kills on the evening, while Anna Billman also finished in double figures with 12.  Smith handed out a match-high 25 assists to go along with three service aces, while Kiarah Horn added 19 assists.  Defensively, Katelynn Kuehl tallied 24 digs and Allensworth added 16 and three total blocks.
 
North Central returns to play in the Loras Invite tomorrow, taking on the University of Dubuque at 11 a.m., followed by the host Duhawks at 3 p.m. Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.