Ankeny, IA -- North Central University (NCU) Volleyball competed in the NCCAA North Regional Tournament today in Ankeny, Iowa. The Rams were the #2 seed and faced off first against the Lions from Trinity Bible College (TBC) who was the #3 seed. North Central looked to take down Trinity as they already had three times earlier this year. NCU would do just that winning in three straight sets to advance to the region championship game against the hosting #1 ranked Faith Baptist Bible College (FBBC) Eagles. The Rams were able to handle the Eagles in their earlier meetings as well, beating Faith Baptist by scores of 3-1 and 3-2. Tonight, Faith Baptist came looking to re-write the script as the Eagles would take down the Rams with a score of 3-1 on their home court. 

Semifinal Recap:

After sweeping the Lions three times this season, the Rams would look to continue their streak against Trinity. However, the Lions would start off strong in set one scoring four points in a row. After four unanswered points, the Rams would finally get on the board, a kill from Lexie Semrau would spark the Rams' offense as they would go on a 5-0 run taking the lead by a score of 5-4. The teams would battle back and forth in set one, but it would be North Central who would come out on top winning this one 25-22.

Set two would also start in favor of the Lions who would go on an early 3-0 run. However, after three Trinity attack errors and two kills from Montanna Sykora, the Rams would go up on the Lions with a score of 5-3. Trinity and North Central would go back and forth until the Rams would pull away with the score at 16-11. With kills from Cora Tippie and Sydney Carlson along with a couple of Lions' errors, the Rams would make the score 20-11. NCU would give up two more points to Trinity Bible but then be able to pull away to win this one 25-13. 

In set three, the teams would battle back-and-forth through the whole set. The Lions would take an early 5-3 lead but the Rams would answer back with a 4-0 run of their own. This would make the score 7-5 in favor of NCU. Trinity Bible would play the Rams close the rest of the set, but North Central would be able to pull away with a 25-21 win sending themselves to the championship game versus Faith Baptist. 

Offensively, North Central would be led by Lola Huhta with 10 kills followed by Cora Tippie (8) and Lexie Semrau (7). Freshman setter Lily McCarty would lead the team in assists with 31. On the defensive side, Maci Tripp would lead the Rams with 20 digs followed by Katie Martin with 10 and McCarty with 9. 

Championship Recap: 

Things would not come as easy for the Blue and Gold in this one. The first set would be a back and forth battle throughout. A pair of service aces from Sydney Carlson would help spark their biggest lead of the set at 9-5. The Faith Baptist Eagles would soon regain the lead after going on a 4-0 run and 3-0 run to make it 11-10 in favor of Faith. With the game tied at 23-23, NCU would commit two crucial attack errors to allow the home team to take set one by a near margin of 25-23.

In set two, North Central would jump out to a 7-4 lead. The lead would trade hands as the Eagles would compound a few points to make the score 10-9. However, the Rams would come right back with a 4-0 run featuring kills from Hailey Lerfald and Sydney Carlson to take back the lead at 13-10. FBBC would crawl back to tie things at 18-18, forcing NCU to take a timeout to regroup. Out of the timeout, the Rams would go on a commanding 5-1 run to force Faith Baptist to call a timeout of their own. The Eagles would eventually creep back to make it a 24-23 game. Avoiding going down two sets to none, head coach Faith Ooms called her final timeout. Out of the huddle, setter Lily McCary fed Sydney Carlson for the big-time kill to put this one away and tie the series at 1-1. 

In set three, the Rams would find themselves down 7-3 early and not be able to dig out of the hole. Faith Baptist would stretch that advantage to 11-5 and then even further to 23-15. Doing her best to keep her team in the game, junior Hailey Lerfald would have 4 of the team's 7 kills in the set. The Eagles would have twice that at 14 kills. Faith Baptist would take set three 25-18. 

In a make it or break it set four, North Central would not get out to the start they needed as they trailed 6-1 out of the gates. However, two kills from middle hitter Lexie Semrau would spark a 5-0 run for NCU and force FBBC to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Eagles would go on a 9-2 run to take a commanding 16-9 lead. NCU refused to throw in the towel just yet as they were able to bring the game to within just two points at 24-22. However, Faith Baptist would record the game-sealing kill and punch their ticket to the 2023 NCCAA D2 Volleyball Championships. 

Offensively, North Central would be led by Hailey Lerfald with 15 kills followed by Sydney Carlson (13) and Lola Huhta (8). Freshman setter Lily McCarty would lead the team in assists with a career-best 34. On the defensive side, Maci Tripp would lead the Rams with 22 digs followed by Carlson with 15 and Katie Martin with 13. 


Looking Ahead:

This concludes the 2023 season for NCU Women's Volleyball. 

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