Box Score

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana won for the 13th time in its last 15 outings and moved to 17-5 on the year Tuesday, downing North Central in straight sets at Carver Center. Coach Kelly Bethke's Vikings improved to 3-2 in the CCIW. The Cardinals dropped to 13-8 overall and 0-3 in the league.
 
Augustana led just 8-7 in the opening set, but consecutive kills by sophomore Taryn VanEarwage (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) sparked a five-point run that pushed the Vikings' advantage to 13-7 and North Central didn't get closer than five points the rest of the way. Van Earwage's seventh kill of the set made it 23-12 and a pair of Cardinal errors made the final 25-12.
 
Game two was much tighter. Augustana took a pair of four-point leads, but North Central used a 7-1 run to wipe out a 9-5 deficit and go up 12-10. The Cardinals eventually extended the advantage to 19-16 before committing errors on three of the next four points. A block by senior Jacqueline Kibir-Evans (Trinity HS, Forest Park, Ill.) tied it at 20-all and another North Central error gave the Vikings their first lead since 10-9. The visitors forged ties at 21, 22 and 23-all before kills by junior Emily Westermeyer (Huntley HS, Huntley, Ill.) and senior Amy Kalkhoff (Clear Creek Amana HS, North Liberty, Iowa) closed out a 25-23 Augustana win.
 
After the hosts dropped the first two points of set three, Kibir-Evans split a block with senior Nicole Morrissey (Lake Zurich, HS, Lake Zurich, Ill.) and followed that up with a kill. The teams split the next two points before the Vikings took the lead for good at 4-3 on a Cardinal error. North Central trailed just 16-14 before Kibir-Evans, Westermeyer, Kalkhoff and VanEarwage each had a kill in a 5-1 Augustana run that pushed the margin to 21-16. The Cardinals later fought off three match points before a Kibir-Evans kill finished off a 25-22 win.
 
Westermeyer and VanEarwage each had 10 kills on the evening. Westermeyer's came in just 17 attempts, a percentage of .588, while VanEarwage hit .476 on 21 attempts. Neither committed an attack error. Kibir-Evans added nine kills and Morrissey a half-dozen. Setters Hannah Lindaman (North Scott HS, Eldridge, Iowa) and McKenzie Zambrano (Rock island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) split 40 assists evenly.
 
Sophomore Sierra Rood (Lena-Winslow HS, Lena, Ill.), filling in for an injured Claire Martin (Mother McAuley HS, Orland Park, Ill.) at libero, led the Vikings with 13 digs. Westermeyer was credited with a dozen and VanEarwage 11. Kibir-Evans finished with one solo block and three assists.
 
Bethke's bunch will be back in action on Friday, October 14 at the Wisconsin-Platteville Tournament. Augustana will face Nebraska Wesleyan at 6:00 p.m. and the host Pioneers at 8:00 p.m.