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

Box Score

KENOSHA, Wis. (Apr. 5, 2019) – The North Central College men's volleyball team had hoped for an upset of the No. 1-ranked team in the nation for its regular season finale on Friday evening and nearly pulled it off in the second and third sets but came up short, ultimately dropping a 3-0 decision to Carthage College (22-1, 9-0 MCVL) inside Tarble Arena.

Carthage took a 6-2 lead to open the match before Nick Lilley and Anthony Kluzak came up with two kills and capitalized on an error by the Red Men to cut the score, 6-5. The Red Men went on a four-point run a few points later to extend the lead 14-8 and despite a kill and ace from Bozhidar Kolev on consecutive points, the Cardinals could not recover and dropped the first set, 25-18.

In the second set, it was Carthage who controlled the pace, taking another 6-2 lead before giving up a service error. North Central forced three straight errors by the Red Men to cut the score 11-10 and challenge its opponent. The Cardinals took their first lead of the match following a timely block from Justin Curtis and Kolev, kill from Jacob Zemba, and error by Carthage, forcing the Red Men to call a timeout with North Central ahead 18-17. Following back and forth play, Kluzak came up with a kill off of an assist from Michael Trunzo to put the Cardinals at set point, but the Red Men were not discouraged and scored four-straight points to win the second set, 26-24, despite a valiant effort from the Cardinals.

North Central received a welcomed shift in momentum in the third set, taking a 1-0 lead following a service error by the Red Men and improve to a 3-1 lead with kills from Curtis and Zemba. The Cardinals continued to hold onto the lead with kills from Lilley and Kluzak, but the Red Men went on a three-point run to halt North Central's streak and lead 9-8. The score continued to yo-yo back and forth for most of the match until Carthage was able to break the pattern and take a 24-20 lead. Zemba made one last effort to spark something for the Cardinals, hitting a kill off the hands of Trunzo to make the score 24-21, but the No. 1-ranked Red Men were ready to put an end to a challenging match, coming up with a kill to win the third set 25-21.

Zemba had a team-high ten kills while Kolev and Kluzak tallied eight each. Kolev and Lilley both had one service ace and Kolev led the Cardinals' defensive efforts with two blocks. Trunzo lent a hand on 30 assists in the three sets and both he and Zemba made six digs.

North Central (16-10, 6-3 MCVL) awaits the conclusion of Saturday's matches to determine their seeding for the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League (MCVL) Tournament, hosted by Carthage, beginning Apr. 12.