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

Monmouth Box Score

Rose-Hulman Box Score

Sept. 7, 2019 – Already tying their win total from all of last season, the North Central College women's volleyball team posted a pair of comeback wins on day two of the North Central Invitational, coming back from a set down to defeat Monmouth College, 3-1 in the opener, before rebounding to take the fourth and fifth sets from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology to finish off the day with a 3-2 nailbiter.

The Cardinals (3-5) came out slow in the morning opener against Monmouth (3-2), dropping the first set 25-14, but found their rhythm over the next three sets, recording 14 kills in each of the final three.

The second set was all North Central as a block from Kimberly Epker and Kaylee Allensworth began a 5-0 rally to begin the set, while Epker, Allensworth and Reagan Raymer all tallied kills to highlight the run.  Monmouth never led in the second set as the Cardinals rolled to a 25-15 win, hitting a match-high .300, recording 14 kills to just five errors.

Holding a slight 16-15 lead midway through set number three, the Cardinals went on the pivotal run to open up a 22-16 lead as two more kills from Raymer and another from Epker gave the Cardinals some much needed breathing room.  After closing out the third set 25-19, North Central carried that momentum into the fourth, jumping out to a 10-4 lead early and never surrendered the lead the rest of the match en route to an identical 25-19 victory.

The Fighting Scots had trouble with the Cardinal serve all match long, as North Central recorded a season-high 14, including eight from Raymer, good for fifth on the program's single-match list dating back to 2001.

Raymer also led all players with a career-high 17 kills, while Allensworth added nine and Sarah Geosling finished with eight.  Kiarah Horn handed out a match-high 45 assists, while Raymer also paced the defense with 12 digs.

North Central came out strong in the nightcap against Rose-Hulman as well, as three-straight aces from Raymer and a Fightin' Engineer attack error turned a one-point deficit into a 17-14 Cardinal lead.  Rose-Hulman pulled to within two points of the lead late, but Raymer and Epker combined on a huge block on the final point of the set to claim a 25-21 victory.

The match suddenly took a turn for the worse for North Central, dropping the next two set to suddenly face a 2-1 deficit in the match, hitting .000 in set two and just .089 in the third set.

Set four began much the same as the second and third for North Central, as Rose-Hulman (2-5) jumped out to a 16-10 lead and seemed in control of the match at that point, but the Cardinals regained composure and looked like a new team from that point forward.

Back-to-back kills from Geosling sparked the rally, while Raymer recorded a kill of her own and Emmie Naal a service ace to force a Rose-Hulman timeout and tie the match 17-17.

With the score knotted at 21, Raymer and Naal each sent home kills to force the final Rose-Hulman timeout and give the Cardinals a 23-21 lead.  There was no stopping North Central after that, as Naal increased the lead to three with another kill before the Fightin' Engineers gave North Central a 25-22 win with a service error on the final point.

Heading into the fifth set, the Cardinals played with a confidence unseen so far this season, taking five of the first six points, highlighted by two more kills from Naal and another ace off the hand of Raymer.

The rest of the set was all North Central as Naal put the final nail in the coffin with her career-best 13^th kill of the afternoon finish off the Fightin' Engineers, 15-6 and complete the thrilling comeback win.

Raymer once again led all players with 14 kills and five more service aces in the nightcap, while Horn finished one assist shy of her career high with a match-leading 47 assists.  Allensworth and Geosling each finished with nine kills, while defensively Lexi Barry led the way with 27 digs and Raymer added 21.

Hitting the road for four-straight matches, the Cardinals travel to Illinois Institute of Technology on Tuesday, Sept. 10, scheduled for 7 p.m. inside the Keating Sports Center.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.

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