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

Box Score

March 2, 2019 – The No. 9 North Central College men's volleyball team added its second Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) win in as many days to its record on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Mount St. Joseph University Lions (4-12, 0-2 MCVL), 3-1.

Anthony Kluzak started off the match with a service ace and with help from Nick Lilley, Bozhidar Kolev, and Jacob Zemba, took an 8-4 lead to force Mount St. Joseph to call a timeout. There was no catching up for the Lions after that point as North Central took the first set, 25-19, sealed by a kill from Justin Curtis for set point.

Mount St. Joseph took a 3-1 lead in the second set and maintained the lead until a block from Michael Trunzo, Kolev and Curtis tied it up, 7-7. Kolev added a kill to pull ahead by one and with diligence, the Cardinals extended the lead to 16-14, but the Lions hammered in nine straight points to take a 23-16 lead. The late-set momentum proved just enough for Mount St. Joseph to win the second, 25-19, and tie the match 1-1.

The Cardinals recollected themselves for the third set after trailing 5-4 with a three-point run highlighted by an ace from Lilley and kill from Kolev to lead 7-5. The Lions came back to lead by one after an error by North Central, but the Cardinals responded with eight-straight points, including back-to-back kills from Jason Eslinger to lead 17-10 and provide the spark the team needed to ultimately take the third set, 25-16.

Looking to end the match in four, North Central took a 5-1 lead in the fourth set, forcing Mount St. Joseph to use one of its timeouts early. Curtis led the attack coming out of the break to tack three more points onto the Cardinals' lead. The Lions tried to come back, cutting the score 16-12, but they were too close for comfort for North Central. Braceros served up back-to-back aces and Kluzak came up with a kill, giving the Cardinals a 21-12 advantage. Zemba helped set the Cardinals up with a 23-15 lead, but Mount St. Joseph wasn't going to go down easy, coming within four of North Central following a four-point streak. In the end, it was a bad set by the Lions that handed them defeat and secured North Central the victory.

Jason Hascher had a match high 11 kills while Zemba led the Cardinals offense with ten. Kevin Braceros served up five aces and Justin Curtis had a team-high six blocks. The Cardinals totaled 12 aces to the Lions' four and came away with 11 total blocks.

North Central (12-7, 2-0 MCVL) take a break from competition for nearly two weeks, returning to action on March 15 at Fontbonne University. Match time is set for 7 p.m. and a link to live in-match coverage can be found HERE.