New Ulm, MN -- After sweeping Northland College at home, North Central University's (NCU) volleyball team would head down to New Ulm for a rematch against the Martin Luther College (MLC) Knights. The teams last met on NCU's home court on October 13th in which the Knights were able to take down the Rams in five sets. Tonight, MLC would be able to take set one but NCU would win three sets in a row to take this one by a final score of 3-1.
In set one, the Rams would score the first point. However, the Knights would score five in a row to give themselves a 5-1 lead. Once Martin Luther took the lead, they never looked back as they were able to stay in front of North Central winning set one by a score of 25-20.
In set two, NCU would start strong as they went on a 4-0 right off the jump. The Rams would stay out in front of the Knights through the rest of this set winning by a score of 25-17. North Central's offense would be led by freshmen Lola Huhta and Sydney Carlson who each had 5 kills.
Martin Luther would strike first in set three. After letting the Knights gain an early 3-1 lead, the Rams would score three in a row to take back the lead with a score of 4-3. The two teams would go back and forth and eventually, MLC would retake the lead at 10-9. However, NCU would respond and score three in a row to retake the lead over Martin Luther with a score of 12-10. Once the Rams retook the lead, they stayed in front the rest of the way as they won set three 25-16. NCU would have a game-high 13 kills and .242 hitting percentage in set three.
Looking to take the match to five sets, the Knights would be able to score first in set four. With the score at 2-1 in favor of Martin Luther, NCU would go on a 5-0 run to take a 6-2 lead over the Knights. Once they were up, they never looked back as North Central would end the match winning set four by a score of 25-18.
The Rams would win this one in four sets by a score of 3-1. Offensively they were led by freshmen Sydney Carlson and Lola Huta with 15 and 12 kills, respectively. Freshman setter Lily McCarty would lead the team with a season-high 25 assists. Defensively, junior captain Jada Lee would lead the team in digs with 18 followed by Carlson and Maci Tripp who both recorded 17.
Box score can be found here.
Looking Ahead:
The Rams will be on the road once again tomorrow as they head to Mankato for a rematch against the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings. Gametime is set for 1:00 pm.
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