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

Box Score

Mar. 22, 2019 – The No. 12-ranked North Central College men's volleyball team hoped to avenge a loss from last year's Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) Tournament but struggled to gain momentum and never recovered, suffering a 3-0 loss to conference foe Loras College (18-4, 4-1 MCVL) inside Gregory Arena on Friday evening.

The Cardinals had the early 3-0 lead in the first set off of kills from Jason Eslinger and Anthony Kluzak, but soon fell behind 11-8 following an four-point run. Just as North Central began to chip away, the Duhawks tacked on five more points to take an 18-11 lead. Two errors by Loras opened the door for kills from Bozhidar Kolev and another from Eslinger, but the Duhawks regained control and took the first set, 25-17.

North Central had to find a way to come back from an 11-6 deficit early in the second set, but four errors by the Duhawks and a kill from Eslinger helped them cut the score, 12-11. It was the closest the Cardinals would get to the lead as Loras continued to rack up the score, ultimately taking the second set, 25-19.

Justin Curtis made his attempt to reignite the spark in the team in the third set, coming up with a commanding kill off the hands of Nicho Calles. It worked for a moment as Nick Lilley added a kill and Kluzak and Calles came up with a block. With the score tied 5-5, Jacob Zemba put away a well-placed service ace to bring the Cardinals ahead by one. The Duhawks tied it up but an error by the opponent gave North Central another glimpse of the lead. Loras quickly stopped any momentum North Central may have had and scored five-straight points to lead 11-7. The Duhawks continued to overwhelm the Cardinals' defense, taking a 20-12 lead before finalizing the score with a 25-14 win and hand the Cardinals their second MCVL loss of the season.

Eslinger led the Cardinals with six kills while Kluzak led all players with five blocks and libero Samuel Kharasch had six digs. Loras' Grant Ooms had 14 kills and ten digs.

North Central (13-9, 3-2 MCVL) returns to its home court on Saturday afternoon, hosting Augustana College for its final home match of the regular season and honoring the senior class. Match time is set for 1 p.m. and links to live in-match coverage can be found HERE.