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Box Score vs. Cal. Lutheran
Box Score vs. UC-Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (Jan. 12, 2019) – The North Central College men's volleyball team proved it is able to hold steady with the nation's top teams during the opening matches of the season, rallying back from a 3-1 loss to No. 8-ranked California Lutheran University (2-0) earlier in the afternoon to defeat No. 9 University of California-Santa Cruz (1-1) in a 3-0 sweep late Saturday night on the first day of the UC-Santa Cruz Slug Slam.

Opening the tournament against the Cal. Lutheran Kingsmen, the Cardinals would not let the opponent pull away, keeping the score close until two straight kills from Jacob Zemba off of the hands of Michael Trunzo followed by a kill from Nick Lilley put the Cardinals ahead by one, 9-8. Cal. Lutheran tied it up again 10-10, but Zemba again started a three-point run for North Central to lead 13-10. Those points seemed to be the spark for the Cardinals, hanging onto the lead throughout the set thanks to strong offensive performances and timely defensive blocks from Bozhidar Kolev, Justin Curtis, and Anthony Kluzak to give North Central the first set, 25-19 and kick off the 2019 on a high note.

North Central came out strong in the second set with a kill from Zemba and a block from Curtis and Lilley, taking a 3-1 lead. Zemba and Kolev continued to work in sync with Trunzo to put the team in the lead, 17-13 and force Cal. Lutheran to take a timeout. Coming out of the break, the Kingsmen scored eight straight points and turned the tables on the Cardinals, taking a 21-17 lead. Despite forcing three errors to come back within two, the Cardinals dropped the second set, 25-22.

Whatever momentum the Cardinals had at the start of the match seemingly fizzled out by the third set when the Kingsmen jumped to an early 5-0 lead and forced North Central to call a time out. Lilley got the offense going after the break with a kill from Kolev and Kluzak, Zemba and Lilley followed it up with a block. But coming back from the early deficit was the Achilles heel for North Central, despite kills from Kevin Messer and Kluzak, and Cal. Lutheran won the third set, 25-21.

The fourth set proved troublesome for the Kingsmen which worked in favor of North Central. The Cardinals took a 10-7 lead after forcing seven errors and scoring off of kills from Zemba and Kolev. Both teams continued to trade points and keep the critical fourth set interesting, but the Cardinals ultimately dropped the fourth set, 24-26, and recorded the first loss of the season.

Zemba led all players along with Cal. Lutheran's Patrick Rowe with 14 kills, while Kolv added ten and Lilley tallied seven. Curits led the defensive efforts with four blocks and Samuel Kharasch tied Rowe to lead all players with 15 digs.

The competitive nature of the tournament put the matches behind schedule and the Cardinals found themselves on the court for their final match of the day against the host Banana Slugs nearly two hours later than scheduled. Both teams were evenly matched from the get-go as a quick 2-0 lead for the Cardinals off of a Banana Slugs error and ace from Lilley did not last long. It was not until a six-point run with kills from Kluzak and multiple Banana Slug errors gave North Central a commanding 20-13 lead. UC-Santa Cruz tried to make a comeback from a kill from Lilley sealed the first set in favor of the Cardinals, 25-19.

The second set was all about North Central after Trunzo set up Lilley and Kluzak for kills and forced multiple errors from their opponent to lead 5-1. It was from then on that the Cardinals continued to build their lead, fending off any attempt to get back into the match by the Banana Slugs. Precision hitting and service placement were key, as well as a team effort across the board on offense and defense, to the Cardinals securing the second set, 25-18.

The Cardinals were not going to let the match go beyond three sets, despite UC-Santa Cruz taking the lead early. A huge block from Zemba, Lilley, and Casey Hiller changed the course of the set, tying the score 14-14 and sparking a four-point run to extend the lead, 18-15. Zemba again got a run started with a kill from Trunzo that led to three more points for North Central and he had the final kill to secure a huge 25-21 and three-set sweep against a top-15 opponent.

Kolev led all players with 11 kills while Lilley added nine and Zemba had eight. As a team, North Central hit above .200 in each set and only had twelve errors in the match while the Banana Slugs had a costly 21 errors. The victory marked the first time the Cardinals have defeated UC-Santa Cruz in the three times they have played.

North Central (1-1) resumes play on Sunday afternoon, beginning with a 2 p.m (PT) match against No. 5 SUNY-New Paltz before taking on Marian University at 4 p.m (PT). A link to watch the matches live can be found HERE.