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

Box Score

Oct. 18, 2019 – Hosting the 18^th-annual Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament inside Gregory Arena, the North Central College women's volleyball team suffered a tough 3-2 defeat at the hands of Nebraska Wesleyan University in a back-and-forth match to close out day one.

North Central (5-20) came out on fire in the opening set, putting together perhaps their most complete set of the season, as the offense hit .412 and the defense allowed just one service error.

Holding a slight 7-6 lead early, consecutive Nebraska Wesleyan attack errors and a service ace off the hand of Kaitlyn Boelter-Eberhardt forced a Prairie Wolves timeout while taking a 10-6 lead in the process.

The Cardinals led from that point forward and closed out the set 25-16, as Kiarah Horn and Sarah Geosling teamed up for the set-winning block, while the offense tallied 15 kills to only one attack error in the first set.

With a chance to close out the second set holding a 23-21 lead, the Cardinals faltered late as Nebraska Wesleyan (12-7) scored the final four points of the set on back-to-back kills from Hannah Bellinghausen, followed by a kill and block from Cora Svoboda to steal away the set and even the match score.

The Cardinals also held a 17-13 lead late in the third set but like set two, the Prairie Wolves caught fire at the right time, ending the set on a 12-2 run.  After committing just one error that first set, the Cardinal offense hit a rough stretch over the second and third, recording 15 combined attack errors over the two losses to quickly sink into a 2-1 hole.

Shaking off the tough losses, North Central broke open a 12-11 battle in the fourth as two kills from Boelter-Eberhardt and an ace from Reagan Raymer gave the Cardinals a 16-12 lead while forcing the second Nebraska Wesleyan timeout of the set.

Controlling the set from that point forward, Raymer and Kailee Thacker teamed up for the set-clinching block to take a 25-17 victory and force the winner-take-all fifth set.

A kill from Thacker opened the final set, but that was the only time the Cardinals would lead in the set as the Nebraska Wesleyan offense recorded kills on 11 of their 15 points in the set, while committing zero attack errors to swipe away the match 15-8.

Boelter-Eberhardt turned in a career-high 25 kills to lead North Central, while hitting .239 on the evening.  Raymer and Geosling also finished with double figure kills, tallying 13 and 11, respectively, while Horn finished with a match and career-high 50 assists.

Defensively, five Cardinals finished the evening with double-digit digs, led by 23 from Lexi Barry, 19 from Raymer and 18 from each of Boelter-Eberhardt and Katelynn Kuehl.

23 kills from Bellinghausen paced the Nebraska Wesleyan offense, while Svoboda recorded 13 and Cassidy Plooster handed out 35 assists.  Kelsie Stovall led all players with 26 digs, while Kennady Klein and Callie Kohl each finished with 15.

North Central returns to action on day two of the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament tomorrow, taking on Trine University (Indiana) at 3 p.m., followed by St. Mary's College (Indiana) at 5 p.m.  Links to live in-match coverage are available HERE.

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