St. Paul, MN -- This evening, the North Central University (NCU) Volleyball team played their first-ever Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) postseason match as they faced the #1 seed University of Northwestern (UNW) Eagles. UNW was the team's last regular season opponent, just four days ago, as the Eagles secured the 3-0 victory. In a familiar match-up tonight, the Rams would be unable to take a set from the top seed, ending their season with a 3-0 playoff loss. 

North Central started out blazing hot, taking an early 5-0 leaded on the #1 seeded Eagles. However, the NCU attackers started to rack up the errors as UNW made a major comeback with a 12-1 run to take the lead. After the initial surge, North Central was unable to find that rhythm again as the Eagles were able to hold on to a significant margin. Sophomore Sydney Carlson led NCU with 3 kills in an opening set when the Rams would only total 8 kills. Northwestern completed the comeback to take set one 25-14. 

Set two went back and forth early as both teams found their talented middle hitters for big kills early on. Lexie Semrau and Hailey Lerfald were seeing the floor well to open the second as they put North Central in front at 11-9. However, UNW was able to rally back to take the lead after 5 straight points. The Eagles then went on a big 7-point run to open things up at 22-13. The Rams traded kills with the home team until eventually Northwestern reached match point and put things away with a score of 25-16. 

Once again, the teams battled it out early in the set to begin the third. Hailey Lerfald recorded a service ace to take a 6-5 lead over UNW. The teams traded points for 15 straight volleys to bring the score to 17-15 in favor of Northwestern. Senior Grace Brigson set up Sydney Carlson for a big-time kill late in the set, in hopes of staying alive. The Eagles got to their brand of volleyball towards the end, blocking the final attempt by the Rams to seal the game, fitting for a team that led the UMAC in blocks by over 90 on the year. North Central lost the final set 25-17 as they were swept in the first round of the UMAC volleyball playoffs. 

Looking Ahead:

This will conclude the 2024 volleyball season for the Rams. NCU Volleyball finished with a 16-10 overall record. 

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