Central rallies but settles for volleyball split
Central College
CHICAGO, ILL. — Despite a spirited comeback, the Central College volleyball team dropped a five-set match and came away with a split in Friday’s action at the North Park (Ill.) Clash.
In the opener, the Dutch (4-2) breezed past Aurora (Ill.) 25-13, 25-16, 25-21 before North Central (Ill.) held them off 25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 16-14.
Against North Central, right-side hitter Emily Stoakes (junior, Gladbrook, Gladbrook-Reinbeck HS) had 18 kills and three blocks while outside hitter Mollie Mason (freshman, Iowa City, West HS) had 13 kills and 18 digs and outside hitter Shantel Gish (senior, Cedar Rapids, Prairie HS) had 11 kills and two blocks.
Libero Dzenita Bahtic (senior, Urbandale) had 39 digs and two service aces. Setter Claire Stewart (senior, Colorado Springs, Colo., Classical Academy) had 29 assists.
Statistics were not yet available from the Aurora match.
Central rallied from an eight-point deficit to win the fourth set against North Central before dropping the decisive set.
“North Central is a tough team to score on,” coach Kent Clayberg said. “At times, we looked very, very good on offense but North Central had a knack for keeping balls alive and they were very aggressive. It was back and forth, back and forth. I’m sure it was a fun match to watch. They’re a good team.”
The Aurora win was fairly routine.
“We got in a nice rhythm,” Clayberg said.
While the North Central match outcome was disappointing, Clayberg nonetheless came away enthused about his club.
“We’ll get better,” he said. “We took some good steps forward tonight. I like this team. Our upside is very high.”
Central comes back Saturday at 10 a.m. against host North Park before meeting Knox (Ill.) at 2 p.m. North Park is 1-5, getting its lone win Friday over Knox. The Prairie Fire are 1-5.
