Contact: Ava Yurchison, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Mount St. Joseph Box Score
Benedictine Box Score
 
Feb. 11, 2017- After trailing two sets to one, the North Central College men's volleyball team rallied to win 3-2 against Mount St. Joseph University Saturday afternoon in Gregory Arena before failing 3-0 against Benedictine University at the Rice Center in Lisle, Illinois.
 
The Cardinals struggled offensively in the first set hitting negatively and losing the set 25-15. Determined to win the match and with the score tied at 20 a kill by sophomore Jake Braceros allowed North Central to go on a four point run to which the Lions could only return two points. The set ended with a service error from Mount St. Joseph and a 25-22 win for the Cardinals. North Central improved their hitting to .250 and recorded 13 kills.
 
Mount St. Joseph found some momentum in the third set winning 25-23. North Central bounced back to win the fourth set 26-24, as the Cardinals edged out a two-point lead. Mount St. Joseph showed some resiliency keeping the score within two-points, though they could not combat North Central's .517 hitting percentage. Six kills from freshman Nick Lilley, four kills from Braceros and three kills from freshman Brendan Crawford highlighted the set.
 
In the fifth and final set, the Cardinal offense found their groove and could not be stopped as five kills and two service aces propelled North Central to a 15-13 victory. The Cardinals remained the dominant team from the beginning of the set where they opened with a 5-3 point run.
 
Offensively, Lilley tallied a team high of 18 kills while sophomore Raymond Kraus dished out 37 helpers. Defensively Braceros earned a team high of 12 digs, and Crawford secured four blocks to add to the Cardinals victory.
 
With some time between the matches, the Cardinals were quick on the offense verses the Benedictine University Eagles going on an early 9-3 point run. Though, after a service error the Eagles found a spark that took control of the set offensively and guided them to a 25-20 set win.
 
The second set began with the teams evenly matched, rallying points back and forth. The Eagles found a three-point advantage forcing a North Central timeout to which they came back with their own three point run, closing the point gap to one. The set remained close though the Eagles offense closed out the set 27-25.
 
Benedictine continued their strong offense in the third set though after a tied score of 7, a kill by freshman Michael Trunzo stimulated the North Central attack. The Eagles fought back to take the set 23-25 and win the game.
 
Overall, freshman Jason Eslinger notched 10 kills, Trunzo 23 assists and sophomore Anthony Kluzak picked up two service aces.

The Cardinals conclude the day moving to a record of 5-3 overall and 2-2 in conference.
 
North Central continues Midwestern Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) play on Tuesday, Feb. 14 playing host to Dominican University at 7:30 p.m. inside Gregory Arena. Links to live video and in-game statistics are available HERE.