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

Box Score

Feb. 20, 2019 – The No. 9-ranked North Central College men's volleyball team (10-7) had hoped for the same outcome as it experienced last season against Carthage College (11-1) on its home court but unfortunately fell short, suffering a 3-0 sweep against the No. 5 Red Men in the final match before the start of Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) action.

Bozhidar Kolev tied the first set quickly with a kill off an assist from Michael Trunzo, but North Central fell behind shortly thereafter once the Red Men took a 10-5 lead. Anthony Kluzak, Nick Lilley, and Jacob Zemba each added kills with assists from Nicho Calles to come close in on Carthage, 13-16 and Calles tied the set 18-18 off of back-to-back service aces. The momentum did not last long as the Red Men outscored the Cardinals 7-3 to close out the set 25-21 and take a 1-0 lead.

North Central never had a chance to taste a lead in the second set as the Red Men led 5-1 out of the gates and soon extended it to 11-7. A kill from Justin Curtis and a block from Kluzak and Jason Eslinger brought the Cardinals within two, but it was the closest they would get to Carthage for the remainder of the set as the Red Men went on a four-point run to close the set, 25-17.

The third set showed promise for North Central after Zemba, Lilley and Kluzak hit three straight kills to give the Cardinals a 5-2 lead. Carthage took its first timeout down 7-3 and had to take another after Curtis put up two solo blocks and Kolev added one of his own to pull the team ahead, 12-6. Carthage was not content with the Cardinals having the lead and knotted the set 16-16 after diligently chipping away at the deficit. Kolev added a kill and Gage Mize came in to serve and came away with an ace to give North Central an 18-16 lead, but the Red Men tied it again forced both team to start trading points. Carthage found itself at match point after recovering from an attack error to tie it, but the Cardinals called a timeout one final time. Unfortunately, an errant attack by North Central sailed out of bounds and the Red Men won the match after a third set score of 25-23.

Kai Cromwell led all players with ten kills and his teammates Matt Slivinski and Parker Connolly tallied nine each. Kolev and Kluzak both had eight kills while Calles added two aces and both Kluzak and Curtis came up with two blocks.

Luckily for North Central, the Cardinals will face the Red Men again in the regular season finale, but before then, the Cardinals begin conference play on Friday, March 1, hosting Trine University at 7 p.m. A link to live in-match coverage can be found HERE.