MILWAUKEE, Wis.-- The young Rams Volleyball team continued to show progress during their weekend trip to Wisconsin for the Alverno College Tournament. Despite going 1-3 over four matches in two days the Rams were competitive in every match and eclipsed their 2012 win total just three weeks into the new year.

Friday afternoon the Rams (3-11, 0-0) were defeated by Alverno College (Milwaukee, Wis.) in three sets that each could have gone the other way. The set scores were 25-18, 25-21 and 25-22. Sophomore Jamie High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) led the Rams with 8 kills and added 9 digs. Freshman Elissa Pheneger (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) recorded 24 assists and a team high 10 digs. Sophomores Sarah Trickey (Waseca, Minn./Waseca) and Karlee Cox (Des Moines, Iowa/Saydel) each had 7 kills.

Game two on Friday saw NCU take on Kuyper College (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and the Rams moved closer to the win column before falling 3-2. NCU opened with a 25-23 win before falling 25-14 in the second set. The Rams responded by taking set three by a 26-24 margin. Kuyper then took the final two sets by 25-23 and 15-13 final counts. In their first five set match of the year Jamie High again led the Rams with a match high 21 kills along with 14 digs. Senior Abby Osmundson (Shoreview, Minn./Concordia Academy) added 13 kills. Elissa Pheneger earned the Rams freshman five set assist record with a match high 40 helpers along with 16 digs. Sarah Trickey had eight kills and a match high 20 digs.

The second day of the tournament had NCU facing off with Finlandia University (Hancock, Mich.) The Rams had defeated the Lions in their home tournament a week ago to the day in a closely contested 3-0 match. This time the Lions would take a 3-1 win. NCU took their only set in the opener by a 30-28 count but Finlandia took the next two by a 25-16 count. The Lions then took the fourth set 25-20 to earn the match win. Jamie High again led the Rams with 14 kills, 9 digs and 3 block assists. Elissa Pheneger had a match high 17 digs and 19 assists. Sarah Trickey added seven kills and 11 digs. 

After a tough loss to the Lions, North Central jumped on their final opponent of the tournament with a 25-8 first set win on the way to a 3-1 match victory over Emmaus Bible College (Dubuque, Iowa). Emmaus responded by winning the second set 25-21. Instead of following the form of their previous two matches and tripping up after winning the initial set, the Rams took the third and fourth sets 25-15 and 25-17 to get their third win of the year. Sarah Trickey recorded the best game of her sophomore year thus far with 17 kills, 11 digs and 8 service aces, all of which equaled match highs. Jamie High had 13 kills and 11 digs. Elissa Pheneger knotched 31 assists and 8 digs.

North Central will be back in action on September 20 in their Upper Midwest Athletic Conferenceopener against Northland College (Ashland, Wis.). NCU is set to host the Lumberjills (1-8, 0-0) at 7 p.m. in CLC Gymnasium.