Contact: Emily Zadny, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302 

Box Score

March 15, 2018 – In the first of three-games in as many days, the North Central College men's volleyball team saw its seven-game win streak come to an end after falling 3-1 to Nazareth College (16-7) on Thursday evening inside Gregory Arena in a suspenseful four-set battle.

Bozhidar Kolev started the match off with a kill to put the Cardinals on the board, but a string of errors aided in the Golden Flyers taking a 14-10 lead and forcing a North Central timeout. The Cardinals continued to fight back and it was Nazareth that would suffer three errors to set up Kolev for a kill on the Cardinals' four point run to tie the match 20-20. But it was once again an issue of errors as the Golden Flyers scored five points to take the first set, 25-20.

North Central and Nazareth began the second set neck and neck, keeping the set tied 6-6 following a combination of errors from both teams and kills from Nick Lilley and Jake Braceros. The Cardinals soon found their rhythm, scoring four points to take a 13-9 lead, highlighted by back-to-back aces from Lilley to force Nazareth to take a timeout. The Golden Flyers tallied five straight points to cut North Central's lead to one before tying the set at 18-18 off of two kills from Joe Crosby and Nazareth's leading hitter, Zachary Gillard. Despite the Golden Flyers tying the set once again at 22-22, kills from Crawford and Kolev off the hands of Michael Trunzo gave North Central just enough momentum to take the second set, 25-22.

With the match score tied 1-1, North Central came into the third set looking to set the pace with a kill from Crawford and forcing an attacking error from Nazareth's Ethan Ross, but the Golden Flyers quickly took control, scoring six straight points to take a 6-3 lead. A kill from Lilley tied it at 7-7 and sparked North Central to take a 13-11 lead thanks to a kill from Crawford, but a service error from Anthony Kluzak later in the set would be the end to the Cardinals' lead, tying the set 18-18. Two kills from Lilley and an ace from Jason Eslinger showed North Central's willpower, but were ultimately not enough as Nazareth took the third set with a narrow 25-23 win.

The Cardinals struggled at the beginning of the fourth set, but strong offensive play from Jacob Zemba, Crawford, and Lilley helped North Central regain ground and tie the set 10-10. North Central used the momentum to take a 21-13 lead thanks to kills from Kluzak, Zemba, and Braceros, but Nazareth responded with seven points to cut the Cardinals' comfortable lead. North Central hung on to take a 24-23 lead off of a Golden Flyers' service error, but the opponent fired back with a kill from Gillard to force extra points. Both teams battled back and forth and after three more match point opportunities, Nazareth ultimately took the fourth set, 30-28, and winning the fourth set thriller.

Lilley led the Cardinals with 11 kills while Crawford had nine and Braceros tallied seven. Lilley, Braceros and Eslinger each had two service aces and Crawford had five total blocks to match Braceros. Zemba and Kluzak helped the defensive efforts as well with four total blocks each and Trunzo tallied 32 assists.

North Central (11-7) travel to Rock Island on Friday, March 16 to play Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) opponent Augustana College. The match is slated for 7 PM and a link to live in-game coverage can be found HERE.