Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (Jan. 30, 2016) - The North Central College men's volleyball team found the going tough in its first tournament Friday and Saturday, suffering a trio of losses in the Jim Coleman Invitational at Wittenberg University.

The Cardinals lost, 3-0, to Eastern Mennonite University (Virginia) on Friday, then suffered a 3-0 setback against Milwaukee School of Engineering before a 3-1 loss to the host Tigers in the final match of the weekend.

Eastern Mennonite (3-3) took control from the match's outset on Friday, opening with a 25-15 first-set win before following up to win the next two, 25-19 and 25-16. Andrew Bergstrand led North Central with five kills, while Kyle Harty recorded six digs as the Cardinals went deep into their bench and rotated 20 players into the match.

The Cardinals played a closely-contested first set against MSOE (5-0) before losing, 25-22, and the Raiders rode that momentum to complete a sweep by winning the next two sets, 25-14 and 25-18. Jacob Zemba turned in four kills and seven digs for North Central.

North Central rallied from a 25-21 first-set loss against Wittenberg to score the first 11 points of the second set and level the match with a 25-14 win. The Tigers (5-0), however, bounced back and closed out the match by taking the third and fourth sets, 25-18 and 25-16. Max Lawrence turned in 11 kills for the Cardinals, while Zemba added 10 and Ben Cartwright put up 13 digs.

North Central hosts Graceland University (Iowa) on Sunday at Gregory Arena. Play is scheduled to begin at noon.