MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- North Central split a pair of closely contested matches on the opening evening of their annual Volleyball Invitational on Thursday. After winning the opening set of their first match, the Rams fell 3-1 to Faith Baptist Bible College. But North Central rebounded by taking a 3-1 win over Trinity Bible College to wrap up the first day of action.

North Central (2-5, 0-0 UMAC) took the first set of their opening match with Faith Baptist Bible College (Ankeny, Iowa) by a 25-23 score but dropped the next three to fall 3-1 to the Eagles. The second set saw the Rams fall behind by 10 points before a late rally came up short in a 25-21 final. In the third set the Rams had their lowest attack percentage of their two Thursday matches (.033) and fell 25-13. In the fourth set the Rams gave up a 24-20 lead to eventually drop the clincher 28-26.

Freshmen Sarah Hundeby (Elbow, Saskatchewan/Caronport) and Ashley Kelzer (Mayer, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) had outstanding debut performances on their new home court. Hundeby notched 14 kills along with 8 digs on defense. Kelzer posted 13 kills and equaled a team best 9 digs. Sophomore Elissa Pheneger (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) was outstanding with 45 assists and 9 digs along with 2 kills on 3 attacks without an error.

Game two worked out much the same for NCU through the first two sets as the Rams earned a narrow 25-20 win in the opener and tripped up in the second set in extra points, 26-24 after leading late. But this time the Rams were able to grindout the next two sets and take the match with 25-18 and 25-16 finals in the last two stanzas.

Versus the Lions, three Rams posted double figure kills and kept the offense diverse enough to earn a solid win. Kelzer and Hundeby once again led the Rams with 13 kills each. Sophomore Sarah Mattes (Rice Lake, Wis./UW-Barron County) added 10 kills. Junior Whitney Reames (Vassar, Mich./Vassar) led the Rams defense with 13 digs while Elissa Phenenger posted 41 assists, 11 digs and added 2 kills on five swings with no errors. On the day Pheneger averaged more than 10 assists per set.

The Rams are off tomorrow before returning to action at 10 a.m. on Saturday when they take on Providence University-College (Otterburne, Manitoba). At 2 p.m. North Central will wrap up their tournament with a match against Emmaus Bible College (Dubuque, Iowa).