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

Box Score

April 13, 2018 – With nearly every seat inside Gregory Arena occupied by cheering fans, the North Central College men's volleyball team endured a trying five-set battle against the Loras College Duhawks (14-10, 5-4 MCVL) in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) Tournament Semifinal match on Friday, but the Cardinals (17-8, 9-0 MCVL) found themselves on the wrong side of the 3-2 outcome and saw a historic and incredible season come to an end.

Loras got on the board first with a kill from Mihajlo Gomez, but the Cardinals forced the Duhawks to make two errors and soon took a 2-1 lead. Both teams traded points, keeping the set tied up through 10-10, but Loras went on a four-point run to regain the lead, 14-10. North Central battled back with kills from Bozhidar Kolev, Nick Lilley, and Justin Curtis, but the Duhawks would ultimately take the first set, 25-22.

In the second set, it was North Central that jumped ahead to an early 6-1 lead thanks to kills from Lilley and Jake Braceros off the hands of Michael Trunzo. The Cardinals' offense was too strong for the Duhawks as Braceros and Curtis hit two more kills and a sneak attack from Trunzo put the home team up 17-9. Jacob Zemba added a kill to give North Central a nine point lead before a kill from Koleb and block by Braceros set the Cardinals up for set point where Trunzo connected with Lilley to win the second set, 25-14.

With the match tied 1-1, it was clear neither team was going to go down easy. The Duhawks challenged North Central in the third set by taking a 5-2 lead following a kill from Leo Peters and strong defensive play. Kolev answered the Duhawks' run with a kill to cut the score 5-3, but Loras continued to put points on the board and take an 11-8 lead. A kill from Curtis followed by both him and Lilley going up for a block a point later brought North Central within one of Loras, but the Duhawks responded with three straight points and forced the Cardinals to take a timeout. Coming out of the break, Curtis put away a kill to spark three more points for North Central, tying the set 14-14. Despite the mid-set comeback, the Duhawks went on to score five straight points and hang on for a 25-20 win.

Just as they had done in the second set, the Cardinals came onto the court in the fourth set with fire, taking a 5-1 lead off of kills from Crawford, Lilley, and Braceros, in addition to a block by Lilley and ace from Crawford. North Central found a rhythm on offense, extending the lead, 16-8 before kills from Curtis, Braceros, and Lilley put them ahead by ten. Loras had too much ground to make up, trailing 22-12, and a kill from Braceros gave North Central the fourth set and forced the Cardinals' second five-set match of the season.

North Central had not played a five-set battle since Feb. 2 against California Lutheran University and had come away with the win after taking the fifth set to extra points and the Cardinals were not facing a fifth set with the season on the line. The Cardinals took a 7-4 lead following kills from Crawford and Lilley and a string of Duhawks errors, but Loras knotted the suspenseful fifth set 13-13 after trading points with North Central for most of the set. Dylan Ross set Loras up for match point and following the serve from Alfredo Lopez, Crawford went up for the kill, only to be blocked by Leo Peters to score the match point for Loras and bring North Central's phenomenal season to an end.

Lilley led North Central with 12 kills and Crawford and Braceros each had ten. Lilley also had a team-high two service aces and four blocks while Trunzo tallied 41 assists and Braceros and Samuel Kharasch shared the team lead for digs with 11 each.

As a team, North Central had a match-high hitting percentage of .464 in the second set and had 53 total kills, including a match-high 15 in the fourth set.

The 2018 season proved to be a step in the right direction for the young program as the Cardinals secured the program's second win against a top-15 opponent, graduated its first senior class, went undefeated in MCVL play during the regular season to win the outright conference title and host the MCVL Tournament, and advanced to the MCVL Tournament. North Central also had four players earn First and Second Team All-MCVL honors for the first time in program history.