Ankeny, IA -- The North Central University (NCU) volleyball team hit the road for Ankeny, Iowa, today to compete in the Faith Baptist Invite Tournament hosted by Faith Baptist Bible College. The Rams' day-one matchups would be the Randall University (RU) Saints and the Trinity Bible College (TBC) Lions.NCU would suffer its first loss to Randall 3-2, but then bounce back to defeat Trinity Bible 3-0.

Game One Recap:

Set one would go back and forth early. However, Randall would rattle off 6 straight points to expand their lead early, and then another 5 point run to close out set one in the Saints' favor. North Central controlled much of the early stages of set two, leading 13-10. The RU would start to click offensively and go on a 9-1 run to start to run away with the set. The Rams would bring the set to within one point, but lose the last four points and go down 2-0 in the match. Needing a spark, the Rams would grind out a hard-fought 28-26 set three win. NCU would have 13 kills in the set, led by freshman Sydney Carlson (Blaine, MN) with 4 kills. The Blue and Gold would follow that up with come from behind 25-22 set four win to force a deciding fifth set. The Rams would find themselves trailing 22-17 before scoring 8 straight points. This time senior MH Hailey Lerfald (Wanamingo, MN) would lead her team with 3 kills and 2 blocks. In the final set, the Saints put on a strong offensive performance with 10 kills and a .389 attack percentage. Randall would win the set 15-10 and hand North Central its first loss on the season. Carlson finished with 14 kills and 4 blocks, and Lerfald recorded 11 kills and 5 blocks. 

Game Two Recap: 

NCU would jump out to the early lead in set one, sustaining it throughout. Although, the Lions would not go down without a fight, bringing the set to within one point four different times. The Rams recorded 11 kills to take set one 25-21. North Central would easily handle set two with TBC committing 9 total errors. Sophomore middle hitter Lexie Semrau (Bloomington, MN) led the Rams in set two with 4 kills and 1 block. Set three would be a close battle early, with North Central pulling away at the end to win 25-16. The Rams would play better and better as this match went on as the team would tally 12 kills and just 3 errors. Semrau put together a strong performance tonight with 9 total kills and 4 blocks. Freshman setter Lily McCarty (Spearfish, SD) recorded a season-high 21 assists, 4 digs, and 2 kills. NCU gets its twelfth win of the year with the sweep over Trinity Bible. 


Looking Ahead:

North Central has a quick turnaround as day two of the Faith Baptist Invite resumes tomorrow morning at 11:00am as the Rams take on Maranatha Baptist. NCU will then battle the home team in Faith Baptist at 5:00pm. 

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