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

Bethel Box Score

Wartburg Box Score

PELLA, Iowa (Sept. 21, 2019) – Wrapping up play at the Central College Invitational on Saturday, the North Central College women's volleyball team found itself on the wrong end of a pair of 3-0 scores as the offense struggled to gain momentum all afternoon, falling to each of Bethel University and Wartburg College.

North Central (5-11) had a rough go of it in the opener against Bethel (8-5), using both timeouts before the first 12 points of the first set and struggled to a 25-16 defeat.

Set two featured much of the same struggles for the Cardinal offense, falling 25-14, before a neck-and-neck third set saw the score knotted 19-19 late.  Bethel however closed the final set by scoring the final six points, as three Cardinal errors and three Bethel kills finished out the set 25-19.

The Cardinals finished the match with a season-low 23 kills, as Carson Smalley recorded six to lead the team.  Reagan Raymer tallied 20 assists, while Lexi Barry added 10 digs on defense.

In the nightcap, the Cardinals again came out slow, handing Wartburg (11-6) seven of their first eight points on unforced errors but mounted a comeback midway through the set to even the score at 16 apiece.

The rest of the set was back-and-forth before Wartburg snuck out a 25-23 first-set win.  The second set was all North Central early, as the Cardinals opened up a 14-8 lead at the halfway point, but once again could not close out the set as a multitude of errors handed Wartburg a 25-19 victory.

After falling behind 6-2 early in the third, the Cardinals mounted a 9-1 run to suddenly take a 11-7 advantage.  Just like the set prior however, North Central failed to finish out the set as the Knights traded two-for-one points down the stretch to steal away the finale 26-24.

Kaylee Allensworth led the team with nine kills in the nightcap, while Sarah Geosling finished with seven and Jackie Gannon tallied a pair of service aces.  Raymer once again led the team with 20 assists and was named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts, while Barry led the defense with 19 digs.

Returning to College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play on Wednesday, Sept. 25, North Central makes the trip down to Decatur, Illinois to face Millikin University with match time slated for 7 p.m. inside the Griswold Center.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.

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