Chicago, Ill. – The North Park University women's volleyball team withstood punch after punch from Wheaton College, and delivered a few of their own, in a 3-2 (25-22, 18-25, 23-25, 25-23, 16-14) defeat on Friday night at NPU Gymnasium.
Wheaton came out with the upper hand taking the first set by a score of 25-22. North Park responded with a fury going on a five-point run early in the second set capped off by a Raghen Walker and Kate Widman block to go up 7-3. Soon after, Wheaton responded with a run to knot the set at 10. North Park scored seven of the next nine points finishing that off with two straight kills from Jewel Schroeder before a Wheaton timeout. The Vikings held the lead until set point when Taylor Guy slapped down the set winner.
Set three was a point-for-point affair as well with the teams finding themselves square at 23 as time was running out. Guy got a block followed directly after with a kill to cap off the two-point set win for North Park. Set four looked to be a carbon copy of the third with a Widman kill putting the teams at 23-all late in the set. This time, however, Wheaton scored two straight points to set the match to one more set.
After going down 9-3 in the fifth set, the Vikings battled back as a kill from Brilynd Pence set off a four-point run for the hosts. Wheaton continued to inch closer to the 15 points need to win, but with the score at 14-12, Pence slapped in two more kills to put us all-even at 14. Wheaton was able to find the last to points to help them eek out the 3-2 win.
Quick Hits:
What's Next?
North Park (1-2) continue their spring season with another home match against Millikin University on Friday, March 26th. That game is slated to start at 7:30 PM.
