Contact: Emily Zadny, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302
(Written by Allysson Schellhase, Student Sports Information Assistant)
Box Score
KENOSHA, Wis. (Feb 10. 2018) - The North Central College men's volleyball team traveled to Carthage College to participate in the Carthage Triangular on Saturday. The Cardinals dropped the first match 3-0 to third-ranked Carthage before taking the second match against Augustana College, 3-0.
North Central started out the day with a tough match against undefeated Carthage (9-0). The Cardinals' serving suffered three errors early in the first set, giving the Red Men a four-point advantage. Middle hitter Brendan Crawford stepped up to the plate, gaining a kill and a service ace to put the Cardinals down by one, 11-10. The Red Men responded by going on a seven-point run with three kills from outside hitter Mason Moore, which combined with three Cardinal attacking errors and six Red Men kills gave Carthage the first set, 25-15.
The Cardinals made a comeback in the second set, keeping within a two-point radius the entire set. North Central got ahead early with kills from middle hitter Anthony Kluzak and outside hitter Bozhidar Kolev, but three consecutive kills from Carthage forced a Cardinal timeout. A pair of Red Men attacking errors and a kill from outside hitter Jake Braceros put the Cardinals in the lead by one midway through the set. Four kills from Crawford and a kill and service ace from outside hitter Nick Lilley tied up the set at 25-25, forcing extra points, but two kills from the Red Men stole the match from the Cardinals, 27-25.
A string of Red Men attacking and serving errors combined with a pair of Cardinal kills from Braceros kept the third set tied at 13-13. Two more kills and a service ace from Braceros and a kill from Lilley put the Cardinals in the lead 19-18, forcing a Carthage timeout. North Central suffered two attacking errors and a service error to drop the third set 25-23.
Kolev and Braceros tied for a team high of 8 kills while setter Michael Trunzo accumulated 21 assists. Libero Samuel Kharasch had 18 assists and 10 digs.
North Central turned the previous loss into motivation, entering the second match of the day against Augustana (3-6). Four kills from middle hitter Casey Hiller kept the Cardinals tied with the Vikings at 11-11 in the first set before three Augustana attacking errors helped North Central to a four-point lead in the middle of the set. Kolev dished out two back-to-back kills and Augustana underwent two more attacking errors which earned North Central's first win of the day at 25-21.
Augustana went on a four-point run early in the second set but North Central matched the Vikings' efforts with a four-point run to keep the score tied, 7-7. Trunzo collected a service ace and assisted kills by outside hitter Kevin Messer and Kolev to give the Cardinals a five-point advantage. Two Cardinal attacking errors and three kills by Justin Murphy caught Augustana back up to the Cardinals, trailing 20-19. The Vikings did not score another point due to two attacking errors and a pair of North Central blocks from middle hitter Justin Curtis, Lilley and Kolev, resulting in a 25-19 win for the Cardinals.
The Cardinal offense went into the third set swinging, collecting six kills to take the lead 15-11. Augustana only gained two kills until four consecutive attacking errors put them behind North Central by six points. Kills from Hiller and Kolev extended North Central's lead and a Viking service error gave North Central the third set 25-19, winning the match 3-0.
North Central gained a total of eight team blocks with Hiller and Curtis contributing to six of them. Kolev lead all players with nine kills and Curtis lead all players in hitting percentage at .667.
The Cardinals hit the road to Found Du Lac, Wis. on Feb. 16 to take on Marian University at 7 p.m. Link to live in-game statistics can be found HERE.
