The #6 seed Women's Volleyball team lost in 4 nail-biting sets to #2 Carthage in the CCIW Tournament on Thursday. After the match, Carthage head coach Leanne Ulmer referred to the Vikings as "the toughest 6th seed" that you'll find the CCIW tournament—an accurate representation of the way the girls fought on Thursday.
The 1st set started off well for North Park, as Christina Gatta and Adriana Rodriguez helped the Vikings to an early 8-2 lead. Carthage would go on quick run of their own though shortly thereafter, and neither side was able to establish momentum until the closing moments of the set when Carthage rattled off 4 straight points to bring the score to 23-22. After trading points, Taylor Guy closed out the 1st set with a kill off a Christina Gatta assist to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
The 2nd and 3rd sets each saw Carthage take hold of an early lead. Keeping their composure, the Vikings fought back in each of them with a slow, methodical poise where their longest runs of service between the sets were just three and four--both courtesy of Teiya Alagar. Instead, the Vikings' comeback effort was marked by a sturdy defense and opportunistic kills that consistently had them go on short 2-for-1 runs, often times on the back of kills from Rodriguez, Guy, Pence, or Simeona-French. However, Carthage was able to weather the storm time and time again to take both sets (25-22, 25-23)—going into the 4th set with a 2-1 lead.
The 4th and final set mirrored the 1st more than the previous two as both sides switched off between big runs. Leads of 5 or 6 were erased in minutes only for a new 5-point lead to emerge immediately thereafter, but things were even heading into the stretch after a North Park scored 4 straight to take a 20-19 lead. Carthage was able to stave off the push, taking a 21-20 lead and setting up an endgame where neither team had any room for error. As it would turn out, the pressure of the moment caused for other plans as the final stretch saw each side make 2 attacking errors. The final of which gave Carthage a 24-23 lead and the chance to close it with a serve from Molly Skoda. The ensuing point was the match's last as Liv Carel's kill elevated Carthage to 25-23, marking the end of an incredibly even battle.
North Park's season comes to a close on this note, but despite the final placement, it was surely a season to remember as plenty of players made their way into North Park's record book. Taylor Guy ended the year with a .349 hit percentage, which shatters Sara Whitefield's previous record of .309 set in 1995. Two more Vikings—Raghen Walker and Rhianna Huebner—finished in the top ten. As a whole, the team set a record for efficiency at NPU with their .212 percentage, marking the second time a team has ever eclipsed the .200 mark (last in 2000).
Christina Gatta closes the season with 1,087 assists, good for seventh all-time on the school leaderboard. Given the reduced number of matches played these days in comparison to the early-2000s, this is a remarkable accomplishment for Gatta. For reference, her performance places her second all-time in assists per game with 9.45, trailing only Jennifer Williams' 9.52 in 2003. Along with assists, Gatta find her way onto the top-ten list for aces, with teammate Adriana Rodriguez finishing one spot above her in seventh place. Rodriguez' performance this year puts her at third all-time in aces per set.
As a team, North Park averaged 11.34 assists per game and 2.01 aces per set this season—good for second and third all-time. With only a few seniors graduating, the Vikings will look to build on this impressive performance next season on the back of this experience for the young core.
