The North Central College women’s volleyball team traveled to Kenosha, Wis., last Tuesday for its first CCIW road game of the year to take on Carthage College (16-3).
The Cardinals were not welcomed, as the 11th ranked Lady Reds jumped out to an early lead, cruising to a first set win for the home team.
North Central, who came in with 14-7 record, was not going to go down easy as they battled back in set number two. After a back and forth set, the Cardinals found themselves up 25-24 after sophomore Cara Howell (’18) landed a big kill.
The Cardinals have struggled to close sets and finish in extra time. After dropping three straight points, North Central dropped the second set 27-25.
The two teams were fairly even to begin the third set before the Lady Reds went on a killing spree midway through the game to put them up for good. The last set ended as the Cardinals fell in their third straight set, 25-15.
Freshman Anna Billman (’19) led North Central’s offense with nine kills, Howell added eight herself. Carthage finished the game with an incredible .337 hitting percentage as the Cardinals could not find a way to stop their offensive attack.
North Central looked for a fresh start to their weekend, beginning play at the Tiffany Robinson Memorial Tournament on Friday. The Cardinals took on Robert Morris University Chicago in the afternoon and Saint Mary’s University (Minn.) in the nightcap.
The Cardinals found themselves in another battle in the opening set, knotted at 24 with the Eagles. North Central dropped another close set as the errors turned out to be too much to overcome, losing 26-24.
In the second set, North Central found a rhythm on offense led by Howell (19 kills). The Cardinals cruised to 25-18 victory after jumping out to an early lead.
The offense got even hotter for the Cardinals in the third set, recording a .538 kill percentage on their way to an easy 25-12 victory. Jill Galovic (’18) led North Central’s defense with 18 digs, while also adding three of the Cardinals 12 serving aces.
Using that momentum heading into the fourth set, North Central led for much of the set, leading to a 25-21 game-clinching set.
The Cardinals then faced St. Mary’s in the second game of the night, where they picked up right where they left off in the first game. Jumping on St. Mary’s early, the Cardinals controlled the first two sets of the game.
In the third set, the Cardinals found themselves heading to extra time, a familiar theme for this team. North Central failed to win in extras once again, dropping the set 33-31.
In the fourth and final set, North Central went on a 16-2 run to put St. Mary’s away for good, cruising to a 25-15 victory. Senior Laura Kluk (’16) returned to the court after being sidelined by injury and recorded 36 assists as well as two service aces to move herself into fifth all-time for the school’s aces list (133).
The Cardinals returned Saturday for the final two games of the tournament. North Central faced Purdue University-North Central first and Loras College after that.
Facing off against Purdue-North Central first, the Cardinals cruised to an easy three set sweep of 25-17, 25-11, and 25-19. North Central was efficient offensively, committing only seven errors and were led defensively by Kelly McGovern (’18) and Olivia Hanley (’18) who both scooped 12 digs.
In the second game of the day, North Central ran into Loras College (12-10). After taking the first set 26-24, dropped the next two sets, both by two points.
In the fourth set, the Cardinals committed 11 of their 34 errors, dropping the set 25-16. Howell led the Cardinals offense with 13 kills while Kluk put up 43 assists, moving up to second on the school’s career assist list (3,526), just 33 away from the record.
North Central continues CCIW play when they travel to Millikin University at 7 p.m on Tuesday.
