Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

Feb. 14, 2017 – A few untimely lapses late in sets, the North Central College men's volleyball team kept pace with Dominican University for most of the match but were overmatched in the end, dropping the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League contest 3-1 on Tuesday evening.

North Central (5-4, 2-3 MCVL) came out on fire in the first set, jumping out to a 16-13 lead midway through the set as a kill from Jake Braceros forced a Dominican timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, the Stars (7-1, 4-0 MCVL) went on the set's pivotal run, a 5-0 rally capped by block from Adam Eboli and Alex Coyne to quickly turn the tables and give Dominican a 18-16 lead, while also forcing a North Central timeout.

The Cardinals were able to knot the score at 18-18 after a couple of Dominican errors, but the Stars responded by closing out the set on a 7-2 run to claim the opener 25-20.  Dominican hit .444 in the opening set, finishing with 16 kills to just four errors.

Once again, the Cardinals jumped out to an early lead in the second set, this time a 7-2 advantage highlighted by a solo block from Jason Eslinger, while Anthony Kluzak and Nick Lilley teamed up for a block on the following point.

North Central never surrendered the lead in the second set, at one point opening up a 18-13 lead as the Cardinal block stood tall yet again.  Kluzak and Eslinger teamed up to stuff Zach Sinn at the net, while Kluzak took care of business himself the following attack, forcing a Dominican timeout.

North Central recorded six total blocks in the second set, none larger than the stuff from Eslinger and Casey Hiller that ended the set 25-17 in favor of the Cardinals.

Facing a slim one-point deficit 15-14 midway through set three, Dominican rattled off three-straight points to take a 18-14 lead and force a North Central timeout.  A kill off the hand of Kluzak cut the Dominican lead to three, but two consecutive Cardinal errors opened the lead back up to 20-15 in favor of the Stars and the visitors went on to claim the set 25-18.

In set five, North Central jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but a 7-2 run in favor of the Stars forced a timeout and North Central never recovered from that point on, hitting at just a .111 clip in the final set en route to the 25-20 defeat.

North Central led the margin in total blocks 13 to nine, led by six each from Kluzak and Eslinger, but Dominican tallied 51 kills to the Cardinals' 36, while outhitting North Central .176 to .101.

Braceros and Lilley each recorded 10 kills to lead the Cardinal offense, while Michael Trunzo dished out 24 assists and tied Lilley for the team lead with 11 digs defensively. 

The Dominican offense was led by Michal Kawa's 14 kills, while Alex Coyne led all players with 41 assists. Defensively, Brooks Neverly recorded a team-high 12 digs, while Mason Solbrig racked up five total blocks.

North Central continues MCVL play on Friday, Feb. 17, traveling to Marian University with match time slated for 7 p.m. inside Sadoff Gymnasium in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.