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Chicago Box Score

UW-Eau Claire Box Score

ELMHURST, Ill. (Oct. 12, 2019) – Running into a pair of nationally-ranked opponents at the Elmhurst College Invitational, the North Central College women's volleyball team dropped consecutive matches to third-ranked University of Chicago and 22^nd-ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire inside R.A. Faganel Hall on Saturday.

Opening the day against one of the top teams in the country, the Cardinals plagued themselves hitting negative in each of the first two sets to fall 25-12 and 25-10, while Chicago (17-1) hit .519 in the second set, recording 15 kills to just one attack error.

The Cardinals played much better in the third set but were still no match for the Maroons, tallying 13 kills to just one error in the set.  Chicago also recorded 13 kills in the set but were assisted by five North Central service errors in what proved the difference in the set.

Sarah Geosling's seven kills led the team, while Maya Bryant and Kiarah Horn each handed out 11 assists.  Defensively, Lexi Barry led the team with 13 digs and Reagan Raymer added eight.

In the nightcap against UW-Eau Claire, the Cardinals again came out slow, hitting .065 and .045, respectively, over the first two sets en route to 25-9 and 25-17 losses to fall into an 0-2 hole.

After UW-Eau Claire scored the first two points of the third set, the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run highlighted by two kills from Carson Smalley and another by Geosling, while Raymer added a pair of service aces during the run.

That lead was quickly evaporated however, as the Blugolds (11-8) rebounded to score 12 of the next 15 points to regain the lead 14-10.

Seemingly hanging by a thread and facing a 23-17 deficit, North Central mounted a late comeback starting with a pair of bad sets by the Blugolds and two kills from Geosling pulled the Cardinals to within two.

Following a UW-Eau Claire timeout, a Cardinal attack error set up match point for the Blugolds, but back-to-back kills from Geosling and Kaitlyn Boelter-Eberhardt trimmed the lead to one, while Barry tied the score 24-24 with a service ace.

Carrying that momentum into the final two points, Bryant gave the Cardinals the lead with a kill while a UW-Eau Claire bad set capped a 9-2 run for North Central to close out the set 26-24.

After 15 kills in the third set, the Cardinal offense went cold again in the fourth, falling behind 7-1 early while recording only four kills to six attack errors, hitting -.065 to fall 25-11.

Geosling and Boelter-Eberhardt led the Cardinals with 12 and 11 kills, respectively, while Bryant led the team with 23 assists.  Barry again led the defense with 22 digs, while Raymer tallied 21 and a team-high three service aces.

The Blugolds finished the match hitting .315, led by 16 kills from Sarah Kuchcik, while Arianna Barrett finished with 13 and Krista Meyer added 10.  Leah Witzel led all players with 32 assists and Taylor Scalia led the team with 22 digs.

North Central (5-18) returns home for five-straight matches, beginning with College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) rival Carroll University on Wednesday, Oct. 16, scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Gregory Arena.  Links to live in-match coverage are available HERE.

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