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

Box Score

Oct. 5, 2019 – Suffering their second tough loss in as many matches, the North Central College women's volleyball team recorded more kills than the University of Dubuque on Saturday, but squandered late leads in each of the first two sets to fall 3-1 inside Gregory Arena.

North Central (5-15) held a 51-45 margin in kills but could not hang on to a pair of six-point leads late in the first two sets.

Holding a 21-15 lead late in the opening set, North Central allowed the Spartans (13-8) to hang around and eventually tie the score at 23 apiece before Dubuque completed the comeback victory with back-to-back kills, swiping away the opening set 26-24.

Again holding a late 20-14 lead in set number two, the Spartans played spoilers once again, going on a seven-point rally to turn the tables and take a 21-20 lead.

Following a kill from Emmie Naal to tie the set at 21, Dubuque tallied four of the next five points to put the Cardinals in a 0-2 hole.

Opening the third set on a 8-1 run highlighted by a three kills from Naal and two service aces off the hand of Maya Bryant, the Cardinals seemed to be in control of the set early but just like to two prior, Dubuque again mounted a late comeback to overtake the lead 18-17 after four-straight aces forced a North Central timeout.

With the score tied 23-23 late, a Kaitlyn Boelter-Eberhardt kill gave the Cardinals set point before a Spartan attack error closed out the set 25-23 in favor of North Central.

Holding a 3-0 lead in the fourth, Dubuque rallied to score five of the next six point to take the lead and never surrendered it the rest of the match as North Central hit a match-low .020 in the final set en route to the 25-21 loss.

Despite the six-kill advantage over the match, North Central committed eight more errors than the Spartans in what proved to be the difference maker in a close match.

Boelter-Eberhardt led the Cardinals with 13 kills, while Reagan Raymer also finished in double figures with 11.  Bryant led the team with 31 assists on the afternoon, while also leading the defense with 23 digs.

Grace Hintze and Rylee Andresen paced the Spartan attack, recording 14 and 13 kills, respectively, while Kate Messino handed out a match-high 40 assists to go along with four aces.

North Central returns to College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play on Wednesday, Oct. 9, traveling to Illinois Wesleyan University with match-time scheduled for 7 p.m. inside the Shirk Center.  Links to live in-match coverage are available HERE.

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