Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Sept. 11, 2021) - The North Central College women's volleyball team suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon to the hands of Central College (Iowa) in three sets.

Early in the opening set, Kaitlyn Boelter-Eberhardt sent home a kill to give the Cardinals a 7-4 edge. The Dutch battled back to take a 15-12 lead thanks to Krissa Larson's sixth kill of the set, forcing a North Central timeout. Emily Stallmann set up Katie Little who scored to knot the contest at 21. From there Central won five of the next eight points to take set one.

Central jumped out to a 5-1 lead before the Cardinals tied the second set at 8-8. An ace from Stallmann and an error from the Dutch gave North Central a 17-13 advantage and imposed a timeout from Central. They responded with a 6-1 run of their own to tie the game at 19 apiece. Despite Maddi Barickman's back-to-back aces, the Dutch finished with two points of their own to win the set, 25-23. The third set began with Central taking an 11-5 lead, forcing a Cardinal timeout. North Central fought to the end, but Central earned the set win 25-18 and the match 3-0.

Isabelle Guerrero led North Central in kills with nine, followed closely by Abbi Barickman who recorded eight. M. Barickman dished out 20 assists while Stallmann posted 13 digs. As a team, the Cardinals hit .210 and totaled 11 aces on the day. For Central, Larson racked up 16 kills while Amanda Smith had 23 assists.

North Central continues play on Wednesday as they open College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) action by traveling to Chicago to take on North Park. The match is set to begin at 7 PM inside of the North Park Gymnasium. You can find live stats and live video links HERE.

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