ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn.-- The offense was effective, the defense was strong and the Rams rallied back from a 2 sets to one deficit to earn a gritty road win on Friday evening. North Central found themselves down midway through the match but played a strong fourth set and used that momentum to defeat Crown College in five.

The Rams jumped out early in the first set and battled through to a 25-17 victory in the opener, hitting .333 and posting 10 kills with just one error. The second set was back and forth with the Storm taking it 25-23. It appeared Crown had taken control of the match as they took a 20-9 lead in the third set. North Central found a way to hang in and, despite losing 25-21 and falling behind 2-1, gained some energy from their rally.

In the fourth set NCU jumped out 20-10 and eventually wrapped it up 25-16 to force a deciding fifth set. Fittingly, neither team led by more than two points in the final set. NCU led 7-5 but the Storm would eventually take a 13-12 lead and served with a chance to finish the season sweep of the Rams. A block by junior Karlee Cox (Des Moines, Iowa/Saydel) tied it and after an attack error gave the Rams a match point, freshman Ashley Kelzer (Mayer, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) put down one of her match high 17 kills to clinch the match.

Ashley Kelzer led four Rams offensive players in double figures with 17 kills on 44 swings (.318) along with 6 digs and an ace. Sophomore Karlee Huber (Rapid City, S.D./Dakota Wesleyan Univ.) returned from injury to post 14 kills, a match high 29 digs and 3 aces. Karlee Cox posted 11 kills and sophomore Sarah Mattes (Rice Lake, Wis./UW-Barron County) added 10.

Sophomore Elissa Pheneger (Roseville, Minn./Roseville) continued to prove herself one of the best all-around players in the Upper Midwest Athletic Confefence by posting 53 assists, 21 digs, 4 kills on 10 attacks and 3 service aces. Junior Whitney Reames (Vassar, Mich./Vassar) posed 18 digs to help the Rams to a season high 108 digs with just 9 receiving errors on the night. 

North Central avenged their earlier season loss to Crown when North Central lost 3-2 at home on September 19. The Rams will be back in action on the road on Saturday with a match at The University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.) at 6 p.m.