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

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Oct. 9, 2019) – Holding a 2-1 lead and on the verge of snapping their College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) losing streak, the North Central College women's volleyball team let one slip away to Illinois Wesleyan University on Wednesday as inconsistencies both offensively and defensively plagued the Cardinals in a marathon 3-2 loss.

Dropping 11 of the last 12 matches this season, North Central's CCIW losing streak dates back to 2017 as the Cardinals have now lost 15-consecutive conference matches.

North Central (5-16, 0-5 CCIW) mounted a late comeback in the opening set after trailing 19-16, as a kill from Emmie Naal and a block from Kaitlyn Boelter-Eberhardt and Sarah Geosling highlighted a 4-0 Cardinal run to overtake the lead 20-19.

With the score knotted 24-24, Kailee Thacker gave North Central set point with a kill off an assist from Maya Bryant before a Titan attack error ended the set 26-24 in favor of the Cardinals.

Unable to carry that momentum into the second set, the Cardinals struggled mightily in the second, recording only four kills to nine attack errors to fall 25-9.

Erasing that second set from memory, the Cardinals rebounded nicely in the third as a five-point run midway through gave North Central a 15-12 lead, led by two more blocks from Boelter-Eberhardt and Geosling.

North Central held the lead the rest of the set as a kill from Carson Smalley closed out the win 25-18 to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the match.

After hitting .303 with 14 kills and only three errors in the third set, the Cardinal offense fell off the tracks to hit just .030 and .045 in the fourth and fifth sets, respectively, as Illinois Wesleyan stole away the match by scores of 25-18 and 15-9.

Defensively, the Cardinals struggled to return the Illinois Wesleyan serve, allowing 11 aces on the evening while recording only three on the offensive end.

Reagan Raymer finished with 13 kills to lead North Central, while Boelter-Eberhardt added nine and a team-high four total blocks.  Bryant led the Cardinals with 20 assists, while Kiarah Horn tallied 18 and Lexi Barry added 22 digs on defense.

11 kills from each of Jessica McCall and Dana Kiszkowski paced the Titan offense, while Madi Corey led all players with 38 assists and four service aces.

North Central takes part in the Elmhurst College Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 12, facing a pair of nationally ranked opponents in third-ranked University of Chicago at 10 a.m. and 22^nd-ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire at 2 p.m. inside R.A. Faganel Hall.  Links to live in-match coverage are available HERE.

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