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

Match 1 Box Score

Match 2 Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (Apr. 8, 2017) – After a tough loss last night eliminated the North Central College men's volleyball team from postseason contention, the Cardinals finished out their second season as a program splitting a pair of matches at Wittenberg College, dropping the opener 3-1, before rebounding with a 3-1 victory to end the season on a high note.
 
North Central (17-10) suffered heartbreaker in the opener, holding a 22-19 lead late in the opening set, but the Wittenberg offense caught fire at just the right time, closing the set on a 6-0 run to swipe the opening set.
 
In set two, the score was tight late as North Central trailed by just one, 21-20, but once again Wittenberg scored four of the final six points to secure the win 25-22.
 
North Central rebounded to win the third set 25-22, as the Cardinals held a 21-19 lead late while two kills from Jacob Zemba and another off the hand of Anthony Kluzak over the next three points to set up set-point 24-20.  After a pair of Wittenberg points, a service error gave the Cardinals the 25-22 win.
 
Set four was another back-and-forth set until late, as North Central had the Tigers facing set point at 24-23, but back-to-back Wittenberg kills turned the tables in favor of the Tigers and they would eventually close out the set 28-26 a few points later.
 
Zemba and Nick Lilley led the Cardinal offense with 11 kills each, while Lilley led the team hitting at a .647 clip, committing zero errors in match one.  Raymond Kraus dished out a team-high 39 assists and 10 digs on defense.
 
The second match of the evening started much the same way as the opener, as the two teams were knotted 27-27 late when a kill from Jake Braceros induced set-point for North Central, while an attack error from the Tigers gave the Cardinals a 29-27 opening set victory.
 
Set two was all North Central, as the Cardinals closed out the set with a 8-0 run, highlighted by a pair of kills from Michael Trunzo, while Max Lawrence also recorded a kill and Sean Brzoska finished with a service ace during the rally to close out the set 25-16.  Wittenberg finished the set with seven kills and seven errors to hit .000, while North Central tallied 15 kills.
 
The Cardinal offense went cold in the third set however, while the Tigers caught fire to hit a match-high .391 to cut the Cardinal lead in half with a 25-18 win.
 
That loss did not deter the Cardinals however, as the turning point in the fourth set came with the score tied 10-10, as two kills and a block from Lilley, as well as a Tiger attack error gave North Central a 14-11 lead and the Cardinals would hold the lead the remainder of the set, closing out the final set by a score of 25-18.
 
15 different Cardinals recorded a kill in the second match victory, as Braceros led the way with eight, while Richard Due recorded six and Lilley added five.  Kraus led the way in assists with 19, while Trunzo added 10 and Ben Cartwright led the team with 12 digs on defense.
 
North Central closes the season with an overall record of 17-10, a nine-win improvement from the inaugural season in 2016.