ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- North Park Women's Volleyball flirted with momentous moments in their trip out to St. Louis on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, despite big moments against No. 8 WashU and UW-Stevens Point, who received votes in the national poll this week, the Vikings lost in straight sets twice.
Against host WashU, North Park needed to get creative to hit around the strong blocking abilities of the Bears, who finished the match with 12 blocks.
After a rough opening first set, 25-15 in favor of WashU, the Vikings bounced back with competitive second and third sets.
The second set featured 11 tie scores and four lead changes, as the two programs jockeyed for an upper hand. The Vikings tied the match in double digits, 12-12, when junior outside hitter Annaliese Rottman, senior opposite hitter Kharlie Simeona-French, and senior outside hitter Adriana Rodriguez began attacking from every angle. They kept things close through the set before attacking and service errors gave the 25-20 score to WashU.
In the third set, it was North Park with an early advantage. Rodriguez piled on a few kills while Simeona-French served a pair of aces to put NPU up, 7-3. The Vikings held a solid lead, even bringing it to seven points at 14-7, but WashU clawed its way back.
Five different Bears marked 3+ block assists, including six by Lauren McCurley, to force extra play with a 25-25 tied score. Rottman drove a pair of kills to tie the score twice, 27-27 and then 28-28, but the Bears took the next two points on an NPU service error and kill by WashU's Jasmine Sells to sweep NPU with a third set score of 30-28.
Rodriguez drives 22 kills, tying for fifth-best in a three-set match for NPU. Her 22.5 points in this match becomes a new program record for a three-set match. Mary Kate Giesen's 41 assists were fourth-best in a three-set match. Rottman set a career high with 15 kills, boasting another career high by hitting .520.
Things were equally difficult against the Pointers, who the Vikings played immediately after WashU. The Pointers hit .330 with 39 kills against the Vikings, limiting attack errors to nine. North Park was aggressive as well, nearly matching the Pointers with 36 kills. However, they hit .132 with 22 errors.
17 different Vikings saw action in this one. Senior outside hitter Shamyia Collier posted a season second-best eight kills as Rodriguez led with a dozen.
What's Next?
North Park (11-10, 2-3 CCIW) will take on No. 9 Millikin University (23-3, 5-1 CCIW) on the road this coming Wednesday, Oct. 23. First serve inside the Griswold Center in Decatur is set for 7:00 PM CT.
