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

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (April 6, 2018) – The North Central College men's volleyball team continued its incredible 2018 campaign as the Cardinals secured a 3-1 win against Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) challenger Wittenberg University (14-10, 4-4 MCVL) on Friday evening and remained undefeated in league play.

Bozhidar Kolev and Justin Curtis sparked the Cardinals' six point run to start the first set and force Wittenberg to take an early time-out. Deion Woodson would put the Tigers on the board coming out of the break, but Michael Trunzo, Jake Braceros, and Kolev maintained North Central's offensive momentum, quickly pulling ahead 17-6.Trunzo and Curtis also showed their defensive strengths with a block that preceded an attacking error by Mason Moldovan and led to North Central taking the first set with a dominant 25-10 win.

The Tigers were motivated after the first set to challenge the Cardinals and pulled ahead 3-2 off of a kill from Ashton Sellers. North Central went on a three-point run with kills from Nick Lilley and Kolev, as well as a block by Brendan Crawford and Braceros, but Wittenberg responded with two kills to pull within two, 8-6. North Central pulled away once again with three-straight points before both teams traded back and forth points, although the Cardinals were able to hold on to force two Tigers attacking errors win the second set, 25-17.

Wittenberg jumped ahead early in the third set, 5-2, but the Cardinals regained the lead after forcing three Tigers errors. Wittenberg pulled back into the lead following kills from Woodson and Sellers, but two kills from Kolev and one from Lilley late in the set helped North Central knot the set 18-18. The Cardinals' rally was not enough as the Tigers held on to take the third set, 25-23, and force the match to a fourth set.

Both teams, knowing what was at stake from the weekend's matches, came into the fourth set with fire, tying it early 7-7. Lilley and Crawford hit two kills off the hands of Trunzo to take a 12-10 lead, but Sellers and Moldovan worked together to once again tie the set, 14-14. The Cardinals' offense slowly began chipping away at the Tigers' control and a kill from Braceros sealed the win for North Central with a 25-21 victory.

Wittenberg's Sellers led all players with 20 kills, but Kolev and Lilley shared the lead for the Cardinals with 12 kills each and Kolev added two blocks and a team-high 13 digs. Curtis led the defensive efforts with four blocks and the Cardinals recorded a new single-game high 52 total digs.

North Central (16-7, 8-0 MCVL) wraps up the regular season with a match against No. 13 Mount St. Joseph University on Saturday, Apr. 7 at 1 P.M (ET) that will decide North Central's post-season standing. The Cardinals are the only undefeated team in the conference following Mount St. Joseph's loss to Carthage College on Friday evening. Links to live in-game coverage can be found HERE.