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

Benedictine Box Score

Lake Forest Box Score

WHEATON, Ill. (Sept. 14, 2019) – The North Central College women's volleyball team struggled on day two of the Wheaton College Marilyn Scribner Invitational, suffering a pair of 3-0 losses at the hands of Benedictine University and Lake Forest College on Saturday inside King Arena.

North Central and Benedictine (8-3) battled to a first-set thriller in the opener, as Emmie Naal broke open a 22-22 tie with a kill before Sarah Geosling gave the Cardinals set point with a kill two points later.

The Cardinals could not capitalize on the set-point however, as back-to-back Eagle kills turned the tables suddenly give Benedictine set point, 25-24, but the Eagles also could not close out the set as a pair of Benedictine errors once again gave North Central a one-point lead late 26-25.

After an Eagle kill evened the score at 26, a kill from Hannah Griffith gave Benedictine the lead before Griffith and Taylor Dunwell teamed up on the set-winning block the following point to swipe away the opener 28-26.

North Central hit a match-high .289 in the set, finishing with 15 kills to four errors, but the Eagles hit slightly better at .333 with 18 kills to four errors.

Set two was also back-and-forth most of the way before an Eagle kill and Cardinal attack error broke a 20-20 tie and that was all the momentum Benedictine needed, closing the set 25-22.

The final set was one to forget for the Cardinals as Benedictine scored 13 of the first 17 points of the set and cruised to a 25-18 third-set victory thus closing out the match.

The Cardinals finished with an attack percentage of .189, while the Eagles hit .315 on the match, tallying 44 kills to 10 errors.

13 kills from Sarah Geosling led the Cardinal offense, while Naal also finished in double figures with 10 and Kiarah Horn led the team with 28 assists.

Dunwell led the Benedictine offense with 12 kills, while Alyssa Mojica led all players with 35 assists.  Four Eagles finished with double-digit digs, led by 16 from Delaney Soto and 11 from Dunwell.

With little time in between matches, the Cardinals had little rest before taking on Lake Forest (5-6) and it showed in the opening set as North Central held a slight 6-5 lead before the Foresters went on a 7-0 run to take a 12-6 lead.

The Foresters held a steady lead from that point forward en route to the 25-18 first set win, but the Cardinals bounced back early in the second set as three-straight Lake Forest errors handed the Cardinals a 12-8 lead.

That lead was quickly erased however, as Lake Forest went on a 5-1 rally to even the score 13-13.

The two teams traded leads multiple times before Lake Forest broke open a 22-22 tie late as two kills from Haley Bryant and a North Central service error allowed the Foresters to take the second set 25-23.

Lake Forest opened the third set scoring six of the first nine points, but the Cardinals rallied behind kills from Geosling, Kaylee Allensworth and Madison Wright, while a service ace off the hand of Kimberly Epker knotted the score 7-7.

The Foresters rebounded to score the next two points and never surrendered the lead from that point forward, closing out the match with a 25-17 final.

Geosling, Naal and Carson Smalley each finished with six kills for North Central, while Raymer led all players with 29 assists.  Barry and Smalley each added 13 kills to pace the defense, while Lexi Barry was named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts over the weekend.

North Central returns home to Gregory Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 18, hosting College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) foe Augustana College at 7 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.

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