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

Box Score

Sept. 18, 2019 – In a tightly contested battle inside Gregory Arena, the North Central College women's volleyball team jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the match but could not hang on, as Augustana College handed the Cardinals their fourth-consecutive loss in a 3-1 final.

After coming out of the gate slow and falling behind 6-1 early, North Central found its rhythm as a pair of service aces off the hand of Lexi Barry and another from Kiarah Horn sparked the Cardinal rally, while six Viking errors also aided in the run.

That run proved to be the pivotal point in the set, as North Central held the lead the rest of the way en route to a 25-19 win, capped off by a Kimberly Epker kill and Augustana attack error.

The second set began much like the first as the Vikings jumped out to a 6-2 lead, this time the Cardinals never recovered as the Augustana offense recorded 16 kills to just one error to hit .455 on the set, leading from the third point forward to take the set by an identical 25-19 score and even the match at one set apiece.

In a thriller of a third set, the two teams traded leads early until Augustana took a 23-19 lead late, but the Cardinals fought back with five-straight points including two kills and a service ace from Carson Smalley to turn the tables and take a 24-23 lead to hold set point.

The Vikings staved off two set points to tie the set 25-25 before a Ja'nya Davis kill gave the Vikings their first set-point of the third set. 

After a kill from Emmie Naal tied the score yet again 26-26, back-to-back kills from Grace Bialobok and Savana Sparks finally ended the set and gave the Vikings the all-important 2-1 match lead.

Shaking off the tough third-set loss, the Cardinals opened the fourth with a 5-2 advantage as three Viking errors, a kill from Naal and a block from Epker and Sarah Geosling gave North Central the early advantage.

That proved to be the highlight of the set however for North Central, as the wheels completely fell off from that point forward.  Augustana would close the set on a 23-5 run as the Cardinals hit -.200, committing seven attack errors while recording only two kills. 

The Augustana offense wasn't much better in the fourth set, hitting .000, but the Vikings held a 7-0 advantage in service aces in the final set.

Naal was the lone Cardinals to record double-digit kills with 10, while Smalley added eight and Reagan Raymer seven.  The rest of the team accounted for only eight kills on the evening.  Raymer also led the team with 17 assists, while Smalley finished with a team-high five aces and Barry led the defense with 15 digs.

The Augustana (5-7, 1-0 CCIW) offense was powered by 19 kills from Bialobok, while Laura Heuermann also finished in double figures with 10.  Olivia Doak handed out a match-high 38 assists, while Jessica Nguyen recorded five of the Vikings' 11 aces on the evening.

North Central (4-9, 0-2 CCIW) takes a break from College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play, traveling to the Central College Invitational this weekend, beginning play on Friday, Sept. 20 against MacMurray College at 5 p.m. inside P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium in Pella, Iowa.

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