Chicago, Ill. - Wheaton and North Park battled as long as they could and kept on going on Friday night. Wheaton battled back after dropping two of the first three sets to push the match to a fifth and deciding set before pulling out the 3-2 victory. Wheaton won the first set 25-22 and took the fourth set 25-23 before taking the final set 16-14. Wheaton has now won its last two matches to move to 2-2 on the season ahead of Wednesday's match against Carthage.

A 5-0 Thunder run in the middle of the first set to take a 15-9 lead over the Vikings. Wheaton would push its lead up to 18-11 later in the set before the Vikings came charging back to pull even at 21. A Mia Staub service ace built a two-point lead as the Thunder scored four of the final five points of the set to take the 25-22 victory.

North Park jumped out to a 7-3 and led 10-5 before Wheaton ran off five-straight points including consecutive aces by Audrey Gerze, pulling even on a kill by Gerze. North Park answered right back to take control of the set for a 25-18 victory. A late North Park run helped the Vikings score the final three points of the set to pull out a 25-23.

Tied at 10 in the fourth set, Wheaton scored seven of the next nine points to lead 17-12, only to have North Park come right back with six straight points to lead 18-17. Both teams traded points down the stretch, but a pair of Viking attack errors handed Wheaton the 25-23 set victory.

Gerze added another pair of service aces to cap a four-point run in the fifth set to give Wheaton a 9-4 lead in the decisive set. North Park answered with four consecutive points and battled back to tie the set at 14 apiece. Following a North Park service error, Wheaton capitalized on match point with a kill by Gerze to end the set at 16-14.

Gerze led the Thunder with 15 kills and five service aces as well as 11 digs. Naomi Bunker added 13 kills. Marlee Anderson dished out 33 assists and Allie High led the team with 29 digs.