Contact: Ava Yurchison, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302
 
Fontbonne Box Score
IIT Box Score 

Mar. 25, 2017- The North Central Cardinals had a rough start to the day as they fell in three close sets to the Fontbonne University Griffins before defeating the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Scarlet Hawks for the third time this season, Saturday inside Gregory Arena.
 
North Central opened the match trailing 16-10. Though, the Cardinals found an offensive spark when sophomore Raymond Kraus connected with sophomore Max Lawrence for a kill and a six-point run to lessen the gap. Although the gap had been closed, the Griffins maintained their offensive edge and won the set 25-20.
 
Late in the second set, the Cardinals and the Griffins found the score deadlocked at 18 off a kill from sophomore Jacob Zemba. Fontbonne's offense went on a 5-2 run to take the lead forcing a North Central timeout. Upon resuming play, sophomore Jake Braceros tallied a kill however the deficit was too much and North Central lost the set 22-25.
 
Down two sets, the Cardinals fought offensively to stay alive, yet the score found itself at 18-all again. North Central and Fontbonne would toggle back-and-forth for the lead before tying for the 13^th time of the set at 22. The Griffiths would find an offense edge and close out the set on a 3-1 run, winning 25-23.
 
Braceros led the Cardinals with a match-high of 14 kills and eight assists. Freshman Brendan Crawford contributed seven kills while freshman Jason Eslinger and sophomore Max Lawrence each got six.
 
Kraus connected with a match-high 34 assists.
 
After taking some time, North Central opened play against IIT slow losing the first set 23-25. The Cardinals started the second set with more momentum going on an early 8-4 point run. An IIT timeout helped the Scarlet Hawks gain three straight points before a North Central timeout. When play resumed, North Central went on it's own 5-2 run with kills from Kraus and sophomore Bozhidar Kolev. A 4-2 point run with two IIT errors, and two Kolev kills would close out the set 25-22.
 
With the momentum in their favor, sophomore Anthony Kluzak went on a five-point serving run to bring the Cardinals to an 8-4 lead. North Central and IIT found the score tied at 11 before a kill by sophomore Max Lawrence ignited a 6-1 run and a five-point lead for North Central. The Cardinal's maintained the lead and closed out the set winning 25-19.
 
In the middle of the fourth and final set, North Central went for seven straight points bringing it's lead 15-6. The Kraus served run included three Kolev kills, a kill from sophomore Jacob Zemba, two IIT attacking errors and one service ace. North Central's offense continued to attack and cruised to a 25-18 win.
 
Kolev was the top player for North Central with 15 kills and nine digs. While Lawrence earned 10 kills and five digs. Zemba added seven kills and a eight digs.
 
Kraus earned a match-high of 36 assists.
 
North Central is back on the court Friday, Mar. 31 at 7 p.m. as they host Greenville College inside Gregory Arena.