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

Box Score

March 23, 2018 – Although its opponent put up a fight in the second and third sets, the North Central College men's volleyball team held off the Greenville University Panthers (6-14, 1-5 MCVL) in a 3-0 win on Friday night to keep its perfect Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) record intact.

North Central began the match with a quick 3-0 lead thanks to kills from Anthony Kluzak and Jake Braceros and continued to maintain a lead, but the Panthers worked diligently to remain within striking distance and ultimately tie the set 8-8. An attacking error from the Cardinals would give Greenville its first lead of the match, 11-10, before back to back kills from Nick Lilley put North Central back ahead, 14-13. North Central's offense continued to put points on the board with kills from Braceros, Kluzak and Lilley with the help of Michael Trunzo and Raymond Kraus, taking a 20-16 lead. A final four-point run at the end of the set highlighted by back to back kills from Lilley and the Cardinals' defense forcing a Greenville error would give North Central the win, 25-19.

The second set began much like the first as North Central pulled ahead of the Panthers, 5-2, but once again, Greenville fought back to knot the set 8-8 before pulling ahead by one off of an error by Lilley. A block from Justin Curtis, Braceros, and Trunzo sparked a kill by Braceros and gave North Central a 15-13 lead. North Central's defense was able to force a string of errors, but the Panthers tied the set, 21-21 following a huge block from Greenville's front row. Both teams went point for point, forcing extra points, but North Central was able to hang on and outlast the Panthers for a hat-trick of kills from Braceros to take the set, 26-24.

Greenville was feeling the energy from the previous set and opened the third set with a service ace from Tanner Smith. Jacob Zemba and Braceros answered back with kills but the Panthers went on a four-point run to take an 8-6 lead. North Central was not deterred and went on a four-point run of its own, highlighted by kills from Curtis and Bozhidar Kolev, to lead 11-9. Both teams traded points and a block from Greenville's Nick Corrigan tied the set at 19-19, but Trunzo found Braceros, Zemba and Lilley for three kills to extend the lead, 22-19. Greenville came back within one at 22-21, but a service ace from Lilley would seal the deal for the evening, giving North Central the third set, 25-21, and improving to 6-0 in MCVL play.

Braceros led the Cardinals with 12 kills followed by Nick Lilley with 11. Lilley, Trunzo, and Zemba each had one ace and Trunzo tallied 38 assists. Samuel Kharasch's 13 digs was good to lead that category while Braceros added 11 digs of his own and Crawford came up big at the net with three blocks.

North Central (14-7, 6-0 MCVL) hosts its final home game on Saturday, March 24 against Fontbonne University when the Cardinals will honor its first-ever senior class. The match is slated for 1 p.m and a link to live in-game coverage can be found HERE.