Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Oct. 22, 2021) - Hosting senior night to celebrate senior's Kaitlyn Boelter-Eberhardt and Jordan Miller, the North Central College women's volleyball team played Elmhurst University to a five-set match on Friday night, but ultimately fell on the wrong side, losing 3-2.

The Bluejays found themselves up 10-3 in the first set thanks to an 8-1 run. The Cardinals responded as an Abbi Barickman kill brought the score to 13-8. Elmhurst would go on to control the rest of the set, and take a 1-0 lead after their 25-14 set one win.

Returning the favor, North Central went up 7-0 to begin the second set. A kill by Amber Vande Hei stopped a Bluejay rally to even the score at 14-14. From there both teams traded points before the Cardinals posted a 4-1 swing, giving North Central a one-point advantage, 20-19. Elmhurst managed to take a two-point lead but the Cardinals closed out the set by winning six of the final eight points to secure a second set victory, 26-24. Set three saw back-and-forth action with Katie Little's kill evening the score at five apiece. The Bluejays pushed in front with a 7-1 run and would lead the rest of the way to win the third set, 25-21.

Again, the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead as an attack error from Elmhurst gave North Central a 6-0 edge in the fourth set. Kills from Boelter-Eberhardt and Barickman increased the Cardinals' lead to seven, 12-5. Another North Central rally put them on top 20-9 before closing out the fourth set with a 25-17 win.

Playing in their second-straight five-set match, Elmhurst opened the final set with an 8-3 run, forcing a Cardinal timeout. Two kills from Little and two more from Barickman closed the gap to two, as the Bluejays held a slim 12-10 lead. Elmhurst went on to win the final three points and win the match, 3-2.

Barickman led North Central with 13 kills while three Cardinals had seven apiece. Maddi Barickman dished out 23 assists followed by Anna Gawron with 13. Emily Stallmann recorded 13 digs in her four sets played as A. Barickman posted 12. For Elmhurst, Taylor Zurliene tallied 18 kills on the match. Kellyn Kennedy totaled 30 assists in the five sets played.

North Central faces Augustana on Wednesday evening for the final regular-season contest of the year. The match will be played inside of Gregory Arena and the first serve is set for 7 PM. You can find links to live video and live stats HERE.

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