St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The Crown volleyball team took crosstown rival North Central to the brink in sets two and three on Saturday afternoon, but couldn't quite seal the deal, losing 3-0 by scores of 25-13, 26-24, 26-24.

After a difficult first set, the Storm quickly trailed 6-1 in the second set.  Slowly but surely, the home team climbed back into the game, eventually taking their first lead of the set since the score was 1-0 at 20-19.  The Storm pushed the lead out to 24-22 and had two set points but couldn't get the vital final point and the Rams closed out the set with four straight points to win 26-24.

Despite the tough finish, the Storm used the momentum from set two to set the tone in set three.  Crown jumped out 7-2 in the third set and maintained a steady lead through the mid-point of the set.  At 13-11, Crown ripped off six straight including and Ashley Earick kill and five errors from the Rams. 

Crown again found themselves knocking on the door, up 22-18.  Holding off a 4-0 NCU run, the Storm once again had a set point at 24-23, but again, couldn't slam the door shut.  The Rams used two kills and an ace to finish on a 3-0 run and take the match 3-0. 

Jocelynn Shockley led the Storm with five kills as the team tallied 17 kills and 16 attacking errors for the match.  Talana Rudzitis led the way with ten assists while the duo of Gracie Zieroth and Sage Johnston each hit double figures in digs with ten and eleven respectively.  Earick added four blocks. 

The Storm remain at home next week and have a 7 p.m. date with Martin Luther on Friday.