North Central College tops Dominican University, 3-0
North Central (IL) swept Dominican (IL) 25-11, 25-23, 25-18 on Saturday, September 26, at Gregory Arena in Naperville, Ill., improving to 7-4 on the season while dropping Dominican to 0-13.
North Central's service game proved to be the clearest separator on the afternoon — the Cardinals recorded eight aces to Dominican's two, a margin that consistently created free points and disrupted the Dominicans' system. North Central also held a commanding edge in kills (33 to 18) and finished the match hitting .120 compared to Dominican's .010, with the Cardinals' set-by-set attack efficiency remaining positive across all three frames. Dominican's defensive effort was noteworthy — 42 digs to North Central's 55 — but the Cardinals' four blocks to one also stifled Dominican's offense at the net.
Lauren Benson led all players with 13 points on nine kills and a match-high four blocks for North Central, while Abby Buban added eight kills and 9.5 points. Sarah Harvey ran the offense with 17 assists and chipped in seven digs and two aces. For Dominican, Karolina Stonkus paced the team with eight kills and totaled five assists in a versatile all-around effort.
North Central opened Set 3 on a 8-0 run — punctuated by a Katie Godo service ace and back-to-back Lauren Benson kills — to set a tone that Dominican could not recover from.
The win moves North Central to 1-0 in CCIW play to open conference competition.
Photos by Papa Claes Visuals.
