CHICAGO, Ill. – Augustana staged an epic game-four comeback Tuesday and then finished off its match at North Park with a 15-13 win in game five. Coach Kelly Bethke's crew improved to 12-10 on the year

and 2-2 in the CCIW, while NPU dropped to 14-7 overall and 2-3 in the conference.
 
Lauren Wiltsie contributed three kills as the hosts broke open game one with a 10-1 run that took the score from 7-6 to 17-7. A Wiltsie service ace gave North Park its biggest lead at 22-10 and another by Kenzie Krueger accounted for set point in a 25-14 NPU win.
 
Bethke's bunch led wire-to-wire in a 25-20 game-two win. Behind two kills each from junior Grace Bialobok (Homewood-Flossmoor HS, Homewood, Ill.) and senior Taryn VanEarwage (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.), Augustana jumped to leads of 4-0 and 9-3. North Park responded with a 10-3 spurt that trimmed the deficit to 13-12 and then cut it to one point three more times, but could never pull even. The visitors closed things out by winning seven of the last 10 points. An NPU attack error gave Augustana set point.
 
Sophomore Savana Sparks (Maroa-Forsyth HS, Maroa, Ill.) set freshman Sierra Erke (Quincy HS, Quincy, Ill.) for a kill that gave the guests a 12-10 lead in set three, but North Park answered with a 10-3 spree to go up 20-15. Wiltsie had three kills in the run. Augustana rallied behind two Bialobok kills to cut the deficit to 24-23, but an attack error gave NPU a 25-23 win.
 
Augustana fought off seven match points to stay alive with a 32-30 win in game four. Bethke's crew led early, but North Park used an 8-2 run to take a 22-16 lead. A Kajsa Meyer kill gave the hosts their first match-point opportunity at 24-20, but an Emily Uglem (Moorhead HS, Moorhead, Minn.) kill sparked a 4-0 spurt that pulled Augustana even at 24-all. A Wiltsie ace eventuallly gave NPU a 30-29 advantage, but a VanEarwage kill followed by a pair of North Park attack errors gave the visitors the game and sent the teams to a fifth set.
 
Erke had four kills as Augustana took an 8-5 lead at the change in game five. Uglem added two as the guests extended their advantage to 14-10. This time it was NPU who fought off three match points before Bialobok finally ended the contest with her 14th kill of the evening.
 
Erke finished with a team-high 17 kills and three blocks. In addition to her 14 kills, Bialobok led Augustana with five blocks. VanEarwage contributed 13 kills and 19 digs and Uglem added nine kills.
 
Freshman Olivia Doak (Crystal Lake Central HS, Crystal Lake, Ill.) and junior Brooke Keegan (Hall HS, Ladd, Ill.) split setting duties and had 26 and 20 assists, respectively. Keegan added three aces and junior Madi Glatz (Morton HS, Morton, Ill.) came through with a match-high 29 digs.
 
Wiltsie, Meyer and Niki Ahlstrand had match highs of 23 kills, 50 assists and six blocks, respectively, for North Park.
 
Next up, Augustana hosts CCIW co-leader Illinois Wesleyan (13-5, 4-0) at Carver Center on Friday, October 13. That match is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.