Thanks to Virginia Smith for the pictures
CHICAGO, Ill. – A career performance for freshman Shamyia Collier propelled the North Park University women's volleyball team to a 3-1 win (25-20, 19-25, 25-14, 25-20) over Carroll University on Saturday afternoon.
Never a team to start slow, the Vikings rattled off seven straight points to open the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) matchup. Taylor Guy, Collier, and Kharlie Simeona-French all drove kills in the scoring stretch, courtesy of quality service from Katy Chess.
The Pioneers closed the gap a bit, but the Vikings never lost their lead en route to a 25-20 first-set win.
Carroll stole the second set, 25-19, as North Park attacked at just a .121 percentage. However, the Vikings roared back in the third set.
Christina Gatta got everything going with four straight points, including a pair of service aces. The next momentum-gainer for the Vikings happened when the score was 9-5, in favor of NPU. A Carroll service error put the ball in the hands of Collier, who powered the Vikings to four straight points. Kills by Guy and Prily Pence and a Pio ball handling errors put the Vikings up by nine, 14-5. Carroll did not go away, but a block and kills by Collier gave the Vikings a double-digit lead later in the set, 23-13. An attacking error by the Pioneers and kill by Guy were the final two points of the set, as the Vikings looked to put the Pioneers away.
The final set of the night featured four lead changes and seven knotted up scores before the Vikings came out on top, 25-20.
Quick Hits:
- Collier with a career high 13 kills and two aces
- Raghen Walker also drives a career high six kills
- Three blocks for guy
- Four more aces for Gatta, alongside 39 assists
What's Next?
North Park (15-10, 2-5 CCIW) will travel to take on the Wheaton College Thunder next Wednesday, October 27, at 7 p.m.
