Box Score North Central 3, Illinois Wesleyan 2 - Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan volleyball team slipped to 0-3 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin with a five-set loss at North Central on Tuesday, Sept. 28.

The Titans lost by scores of 14-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-21, 10-15 and fell to 7-10 overall while the Cardinals improved to 10-8 overall and 1-2 in the CCIW. In set four, the Titans broke open a 16-16 tie with six straight points to make it 22-16 and won to force set five.

"Its extremely disappointing to see us repeatedly place ourselves in a deficit every set we've played," said IWU head coach Kim Nelson-Brown. "Mentally we need to be stronger and execute our game plan and adapt sooner."

IWU had a .227 hitting percentage in the match with 57 kills compared to a .216 hitting mark with 62 kills for North Central. The Titans were led by freshman Steohanie Buhrow with 15 kills and four blocks and sophomore Alex Hill with 13 kills and three blocks.

Sophomore Eryn Finet came off the bench to give five kills in 12 attempts (.417 percentage) while senior Lori Johnson had 12 kills and 11 digs and junior Gaby Johnson had eight kills.

Junior Stacy Hassinger had 27 assists and freshman Erin Wachtel had 21 assists and 11 digs in the match while freshman Sarah Blum had 13 defensive digs and sophomore Stephanie Polich had 12 digs in a reserve role.

The Titans are at home against Albion (3 p.m.) and Robert Morris-Peoria (7:30 p.m.) on Friday, Oct. 1 in the Barker Chevrolet Classic II.