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Box Score (University of California-Santa Cruz)

Box Score (Brooklyn College)

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Feb. 3, 2018) –The North Central College men's volleyball team battled back from adversity after falling to No.4 University of California, Santa Cruz 3-1, taking a 3-0 sweep over Brooklyn College later in the afternoon at the Cal Lu Fornia Tournament, hosted by California Lutheran University.

Facing a familiar foe, the Cardinals welcomed the second chance to play a top-five opponent. The Banana Slugs started with a service ace from Lake Merchen, but would follow with an error to start the set tied 1-1. Both teams put their offenses on display early as Michael Trunzo set up Brendan Crawford for a kill and Raymond Cascio would add a point for the Banana Slugs. The Cardinals capitalized on another error from Merchen to pull within one of Santa Cruz, but began to slip away after the Banana Slugs went on a five-point run to take a 10-5 lead. Not discouraged and with a lot of volleyball left to play, North Central regained its composure and scored five straight points of its own, highlighted by a service ace from Kevin Messer and a block from Crawford and Trunzo.

North Central continued to keep Santa Cruz close, despite falling behind three points to trail 19-16 and both teams continued to play point for point. Ultimately, Santa Cruz had enough of an edge to claim a 25-22 victory and take the first set.

In the second set, Santa Cruz jumped ahead with a 3-0 lead, but North Central was ready to come back thanks to a blocks from Anthony Kluzak and Bozhidar Kolev and a kill from Nick Lilley. The set continued be a combination of errors for both teams and strong offensive plays, highlighted by a kill from Jacob Zemba off the hands of Lilley to tie the set 15-15.

Knowing they could compete with the nationally-ranked Banana Slugs, the Cardinals continued to fight in the second set. Lilley came up with a huge kill to start the Cardinals four-point run to put the team ahead 24-22, but the Banana Slugs were ready to force extra points, taking the second set 26-24.

The Cardinals had lost to Santa Cruz at home in a three-set sweep and was not ready to have it happen again. A strong of Banana Slugs errors and a block from Justin Curtis and Zemba gave North Central a 4-1 lead to start the third set. Lilley continued to add to the Cardinals' score, due largely in part to a kill and service ace that gave North Central an 9-2 lead and forced a Santa Cruz timeout. The quick break did not seem to spark anything for the Banana Slugs and it was clear North Central had control of the set and with kills from Zemba, Lilley, and Curtis, the Cardinals took a 25-19 win, sparking a fire within the team going into the fourth set.

The fourth set did not begin how North Central had hoped after the team surrendered six points off of errors to the Banana Slugs' 9-5 lead. The Cardinals took a time out and after a moment to regroup, Trunzo set Lilley up for a kill to keep North Central in the set, though still trailing 11-7. Santa Cruz started to build back momentum with a three point run to make the score 15-8, but an error from Chris Salas gave the Cardinals the chance to serve. Lilley served a well-placed ace to bring North Central within five, but the Banana Slugs were not going to let North Central get too comfortable. Despite offensive efforts from Crawford and Lilley and strong defense from Curtis and Messer, Santa Cruz remained relentless, taking the fourth set, 25-18, and sending North Central off with the fourth loss of the season.

Lilley led North Central with 13 kills and two service aces led the team in both categories while Trunzo contributed 24 assists. Kluzak and Curtis both had four blocks and Samuel Kharasch had 16 digs.

The Cardinals returned to the court shortly after for the second match of the day against Brooklyn. The Bulldogs came out with an early 2-0 lead following kills from Ahmed Moawad and Vaughn Titus, but the Cardinals responded with five straight points off of Bulldog errors, kills from Zemba and Crawford and a service ace from Curtis to take a 5-2 lead. North Central continued to control the set despite errors from both teams and took a 10-5 lead.

Brooklyn tried to cut the deficit with kills from Moaz Choudhary and Gabriel Pjatak, but the Cardinal offense was rolling and soon held a 16-8 lead. Crawford and Kolev continued to be dominant forces for North Central and thanks to their offensive efforts and errors on their opponent's end of the court, the Cardinals took the first set 25-15.

At the start of the second set, both teams were plagued by errors, but the Bulldogs took control with a 2-1 lead. A kill from Lilley tied the set 2-2 and led to both teams going point for point for much of the set. The Cardinals were finally able to pull away on a three-point run off of a block and two kills from Lilley and Crawford off the hands of Kraus. Moawad cut the score 12-10 with a kill, but North Central's offense was ready and tacked on three straight points for a 15-10 lead. The Bulldogs would commit five consecutive errors to extend North Central's lead to 20-10 and ultimately win the second set, 25-12.

Brooklyn jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Curtis was ready for North Central's offense, putting up two kills to tie the set. The Bulldogs answered with a kill from Moawad, but Curtis was once again in perfect position from Nicho Calles to tie the set back up at 3-3 off of a kill. The Cardinals' defense was also ready as Mateo Gonzalez and Casey Hiller came up with a block. Gonzalez would contribute a kill and Richard Due a service ace to put the Cardinals ahead 6-5, but Brooklyn forced an attacking error from Hiller to tie the set, 6-6.

Ready to regain control of the set, North Central went on a five-point run with kills from Calles, Messer, and Due and a service ace from Gonzalez. The Bulldogs fought back, ultimately drawing the score to a close 14-11, but the Cardinals would hang on for the remainder of the set. It was a service ace from Messer that secured the 25-18 North Central victory and a put the exclamation point on a dominant three-set performance.

Crawford led the offense with six kills, followed by Curtis with five and Kolev with four. Zemba, Crawford, and Gonzalez each contributed aces while Curtis led the team with five blocks. Calles came up big for the Cardinals with 13 assists while Kharasch and Due each added five digs.

North Central (4-4) are back on the road, although not quite as far, traveling to Aurora University on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 PM. Links to live in-game statistics and video can be found HERE.