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

Box Score vs. UC Santa Cruz
Box Score vs. Augustana

Feb. 8, 2019 – Playing at home for the second weekend in a row, the North Central College men's volleyball celebrated a pair of victories inside Gregory Arena, first defeating No. 15-ranked University of California, Santa Cruz (7-8) in a 3-0 rout before facing a resilient Augustana College (3-5) team later in the evening and securing a 3-1 victory.

No. 8 North Central jumped out to the early lead in the first set, sparked by a kill from Anthony Kluzak off the hands of Michael Trunzo before Nick Lilley and Bozhidar Kolev followed suit for two more kills and a 4-1 lead. The Banana Slugs rallied back to tie it up as both teams continued to trade points until North Central pulled away with a 12-8 lead, forcing the opponent to take a time out. A sneaky attack from Trunzo with help from libero Samuel Kharasch helped the Cardinals open up a 15-9 lead in which the Banana Slugs could not come back from. Kolev was able to get North Central to set point, and despite two late points by UC Santa Cruz, Zemba came in with the kill to win the first set, 25-22.

The second set began much like the first with North Central taking an 8-3 lead and continuing the momentum to widen the gap 15-9 following a kill from Lilley and block from Kolev and Kluzak. The Banana Slugs came within two after a three-point run to trail 15-17, but it was short lived as Zemba and Kolev teamed up on the attack to bring the Cardinals to set point. UC Santa Cruz kept it interesting, scoring three straight points and put pressure on North Central with the score 23-24. Zemba was unfazed and fired in a well-placed kill off the hands of Trunzo to win the set and give North Central a 2-0 lead.

An unrelenting Cardinal offense gave North Central the momentum it needed, following back to back kills from Kolev, but the Banana Slugs charged back to come within one and force the Cardinals to maintain their lead. Two costly errors by UC Santa Cruz gave that the Cardinals the chance and Casey Hiller and Kolev capitalized on that with a block to take a 10-6 lead. A late-set effort from the Banana Slugs to cut the Cardinals' lead to one was not enough as North Central had already established its lead, taking the match off of a kill from Lilley and winning the set 25-20.

Zemba led all players with 14 kills, followed by Kolev with 12 and Lilley with nine. Zemba, Kolev and Kevin Braceros all tallied one service ace and Kolev came up with four blocks. Zemba also led the team with nine digs and as a team, the Cardinals ended the match with a .282 hitting percentage, highlighted by 45 kills.

The Cardinals got a glimpse of Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) competition in the second match of the evening against Augustana and the Vikings were ready to challenge its conference competitor. Three kills from Kolev and an ace from Jason Eslinger helped put the Cardinals ahead 6-2 and force the Vikings to play catch up early. A slew of errors by Augustana helped North Central extend its lead 14-8 and force its opponent to take a timeout, but the Vikings fought back diligently and three-straight kills by Luiz Zavala cut the Cardinals' lead, 17-15. Zemba and Lilley added two kills that with the help of an ace from Eslinger and three more errors by Augustana gave North Central the win, 25-19.

The Vikings were the first to strike in the second set, but two kills from Kevin Messer put North Central in the lead 11-7 and eventually on the path to score six-straight points to lead double up the Vikings, 18-9. It was again Zavala with help from Ryan Hirschel to score three more points for Augustana late in the set, but North Central had the momentum it needed and with another kill from Messer and strong all-around play by Justin Curtis, the Cardinals won the second set in similar fashion, 25-19.

Unfortunately for North Central, the momentum took a turn for the worse in the third set and the Cardinals found themselves at a 7-1 deficit following four errors. Messer, Eslinger, and Lilley all tried to get the Cardinals back on track, but the damage had been done. Augustana continued to thrive off of its new-found momentum and went on to take the third set, 25-17.

Both teams traded points in the fourth set until the Vikings went on a three-point run with the help of two errors by North Central to lead 10-9. A kill from Lilley and back-to-back blocks from Trunzo and Hiller helped the Cardinals pull away 15-11. The duo did it again shortly thereafter to extend the lead 19-13, but Augustana was not going down without a fight and battled back to cut the lead 22-24 and force North Central to take a timeout. With match point on the line, an unfortunate attacking error for the Cardinals made the final serve by Augustana's Jordan Hawk very important and Kolev made sure it went in favor of the Cardinals, connecting with Trunzo to hit a kill for match point and give North Central the win.

Augustana's Jason Szara led all players with 13 kills but Lilley was a close second to lead North Central with 12. Justin Curtis tallied five blocks while Kolev and Hiller added three apiece. The Vikings led in every category as a team except blocks in which both teams had eight, but it was 26 costly errors on the opponent's end that caused troubles. The Cardinals faced their fair share of errors as well, recording 22.

North Central (9-5) returns home to host Concordia University Chicago on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. A link to live in-match coverage can be found HERE.