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

Box Score

Jan. 18, 2019 – The North Central College men's volleyball team hosted its first home match of the season and put on a show for the roaring crowd, defeating the No. 6-ranked New York University Violets (0-2) and its second ranked opponent this season in a thrilling four-set battle.

Justin Curtis put the first point on the board for the Cardinals off the hands of Trunzo and helped spark a steady flow of kills from Bozhidar Kolev and Jacob Zemba to put North Central ahead 10-7. North Central began to pull away with a kill and service ace from Nick Lilley and take a 15-10 lead and then extended the advantage 21-15 thanks to kills from Zemba. A dominating .444 hitting percentage for the Cardinals marked the high-point for the team as North Central took a 1-0 lead, winning the first set, 25-16.

In the second set, Lilley, Curtis and Zemba stopped the Violets first attempt to get on the board with a massive block and continued the momentum with kills from Lilley to lead 6-3. But New York was putting up a fight after the devastating first set loss, shortly tying the set off of a kill from Tyler Flood, 9-9. North Central was able to hold off their opponent from taking the lead until Adam Lee broke the trend for the Violets with a kill and Evan Lindley followed it up with an ace to put New York ahead, 22-20. The Cardinals called a timeout and capitalized on a kill from Casey Hiller and six untimely errors for the Violets to win the second set, 28-26.

The last time North Central faced a top-15 opponent, they won in a three-set sweep and the Cardinals were looking to accomplish that on their home court. But New York was ready to make the match go at least to four sets, taking a 12-8 lead early and forcing the Cardinals to regroup. A kill from Hiller seemed to be the momentum they needed coming out of the timeout, but the Violets continued to hold onto the lead and a five-point run ended the set in favor of New York, 25-20.

The highlight of the fourth set was strong defensive play for North Central as Samuel Kharasch came up with multiple critical digs to keep the ball in play. Both teams fought to keep the fourth set close, despite giving up errors on each side, but twelve errors on behalf of the Violets were the leverage the Cardinals needed to take the match, 3-1, after a tightly contested 25-23 win in the fourth.

Zemba led the Cardinals with 12 kills, followed by Kolev with 11 and Kluzak with eight. Trunzo tallied 32 assists, a team-high four blocks, and led the team alongside Kharasch with seven digs. As a team, the Cardinals' defense stood out, collecting 10 blocks on the night.

North Central (3-2) looks to continue the momentum less than 24 hours later, hosting No. 11 Stevenson University on Saturday, Jan. 19 at noon before matching up against Aurora University at 5 p.m. Live coverage for both matches can be found HERE.