ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn.-- Friday night's meeting between North Central and Crown College was as evenly played as one five set volleyball match could have been. For the fourth straight time the teams played five sets with the Storm taking a 3-2 win at Wilde Gym to even that string of five setters at two a piece.

The Rams took the opening set 25-16 with 11 kills and just three attack errors. The Storm fired back to take the second set 25-20. North Central responded to win 25-22 in the third set and looked like they might finish the match in four sets.

North Central took a 16-14 lead in the fourth and forced a Storm timeout. But Crown ran off four straight points out of the stoppage and took a 25-22 victory for force a decisive fifth frame.

It was only fitting that the final set was back and forth with Crown bouncing out to a 5-3 lead. The Rams would respond by moving out to a 10-8 advantage of their own to force another timeout by the hosts. However, the Rams held their ground and ran the difference out to 13-8 and looked like they might spoil the Storm's Parents Day/Senior Night activities. But once again this long time rivalry took a twist, this time in favor of Crown.

Crown got back in the match with two kills, two Rams attack errors and a final service ace to make it 13-13. North Central momentarily led 14-13 before a service error gave Crown new life at 14-14. It appeared a line judge ruled an attack by Crown out but it was over ruled and gave the Storm a 15-14 lead and they finished the match point in their first attempt for a 16-14 victory.

The match finished up with both teams at 66 total points. NCU had 117 digs while the Storm posted 113. NCU hit .179 while Crown was at .131. The Rams posted 59 hills with Crown at 55. The Storm posted 10 service aces while NCU had 3.

North Central was led on offense by junior Karlee Huber (Rapid City, S.D./Dakota Wesleyan University) who posted a match high 19 kills on 51 swings with 17 digs. Sophomore Anna Larson (Lakeville, Minn./Christian Life) added 11 kills and 16 digs. Sophomore Katie Strand (Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo) posted 13 kills.

Junior Elissa Pheneger (Roseville, Minn./Concordia Academy) moved into second all time on the NCU career assist list last weekend and she added 46 more helpers to stand at 1787 in just over 2 1/2 seasons. She also posted 28 digs in the match. Senior Whitney Reames (Vassar, Mich./Vassar) led all players with 30 digs.

The Rams will have the rest of the weekend to recover from the tough loss before traveling to the College of St. Scholastica (Duluth, Minn.) on Tuesday. The Rams and Saints are scheduled for a 7 p.m. Upper Midwest Athletic Conference tilt.