Ankeny, IA -- Friday, North Central University (NCU) Volleyball traveled south to Ankeny, Iowa for the 2024 Faith Baptist Volleyball Classic Tournament. In the past two seasons, the Rams have dominated the tournament with an overall 7-1 record. Today, North Central continued its dominance with another pair of wins over Randall University (RU) and Trinity Bible College (TBC). In game one against Randall, senior setter Grace Brigson reached 2,000 career assists with an impressive 40-assist performance in the five-set thriller. 

Game One Recap:

In game one of the afternoon, NCU found themselves trailing 6-1 to the Randall Saints. Freshman Brianna Brown led the Rams from the service line with three straight aces to get the team back into set one. Fellow freshman, Erica Tormanen got hot early with 4 kills to spark NCU's comeback set one win of 25-21. The second set went back-and-forth early until the Saint went on a 7-0 run to go up 13-7. They eventually expanded that lead to 22-12 and went on to win the second set with ease. NCU recorded only 7 kills to Randall's 16. Building momentum and steam, the Saints opened the third set with a 6-1 lead. Aided by RU errors and a handful of kills from senior Hailey Lerfald, North Central pulled back to within one point. Unfortunately, Randall found a rhythm once more and won set two 25-17. Facing a match-deciding set, NCU started out rough with 3 straight attacking errors. Then Grace Brigson started dishing the ball to Erica Tormanen on the outside and Hailey Lerfald and Lexie Semrau in the middle who all tallied 4 kills in the set to lead NCU to a match-tying 25-19 set win. As momentum swung, North Central capitalized by opening the final set with a 7-2 lead. However, Randall battled back to bring it to within one at 8-7 to force the NCU timeout. The Rams then found themselves trailing 14-11 with match point looming. Outside hitter, Ari Klein came up clutch with a huge kill to keep the game alive. After two attack errors by the Saints, Sydney Carlson and Lexie Semrau combined for a massive block to put NCU up 15-14. Randall answered with a kill to even things at 15-all. However, Brigson found her ol' reliable outside hitter Sydney Carlson for two powerful kills to seal the game. Carlson totaled 16 kills and Lerfald 14 kills. Brianna Brown finished with 6 total service aces to lead NCU. Grace Brigson showed out with 40 assists and 16 digs to do it all for the Rams. Junior Maci Tripp also had a nice game as she anchored the team defensively with 21 total digs. 

Game Two Recap: 

North Central rolled out a new rotation for game number two versus the Trinity Bible Lions. Catherine Johnson got things going with a kill from her middle position. Junior transfers Nana Lopez and Maggie Kohl carried the Rams in set one with a combined 13 kills to outlast the Lions 25-21. In set two, freshman right hitter Gabbie Ruzek heated up with 4 kills. Trinity struggled with 9 errors and just 10 kills. NCU was able to take set two by a score of 25-20. Grace Brigson put together another phenomenal game with 34 assists and just one error. Nana Lopez totaled a season-high 12 kills and 10 digs. Maggie Kohl also had a season-high 10 kills and 1 block. North Central won the third set 25-22 to sweep the Lions.

Looking Ahead:

Tomorrow, NCU will take on Maranatha Baptist University at 11:00am to start the day. They will close out the tournament with an evening showdown against the host Faith Baptist Bible at 5:00pm. 

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