Contact: Ben Nordman, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Feb. 14, 2020) - In a match that saw 33 ties and 10 lead changes throughout the five-sets, the North Central College men's volleyball team fought their way to a win against Cal Lutheran University on Friday evening led by a balanced, full-team effort.

The Cardinals found themselves up early on in the first, leading 6-1 before a run by the Kingsmen (6-6) brought the score even at seven. The set went back and forth the rest of the way, with Cal Lutheran pulling out a 25-19 win to go up 1-0.

Much of the same in the second set saw the Cardinals pull the match to 1-1 as their attackers started to heat up with their hitting percentage jumping up to 0.257 from 0.029 in the first set. Jason Eslinger and Ben Williams provided the firepower in the frame, each recording four kills to help the Cardinals to a 27-25 victory.

The momentum from the second set carried over in a big way in the third as North Central was nearly unstoppable and Cal Lutheran scrambled to find answers. The Cardinals hit 0.375 in the set while holding the Kingsmen to 0.029 with the Cardinals winning 25-15 to gain the lead in the match. Justin Curtis was 5-0-5 (kills-errors-attempts) in the set, killing everything that was set his way. Jared Moser also provided a spark for the host Cardinals, adding four kills of his own.

Despite holding all momentum, the Kingsmen rallied in the fourth set, holding off a late run by North Central to push the match to a fifth and final set with a 25-20 set win.

The Cardinals were able to rebound though, staying up in the final set despite some back and forth from both teams, ultimately taking the victory with a 15-13 fifth-set win. Moser and Eslinger were able to help the Cardinals put the match away, recording four and three kills, respectively.

Eslinger led the team in kills with 15 while Curtis had 11 kills and hit 0.688, not recording an error the whole match. Moser, Curtis, and Casey Hiller helped the Cardinals to 24 block assists, with Moser recording six and the latter two recording five a piece.

Michael Trunzo recorded an outstanding 57 assists, besting the previous record of assists in a match by seven. Parker Nelson also had a program-best performance, digging 22 attacks to establish the new record for digs in a match.

The Cardinals (5-3) look to increase their winning streak tomorrow afternoon, taking part in a triangular against Millikin University and St. Norbert College. The Millikin match starts at 3 pm with the St. Norbert match to directly follow. Click HERE for live stats and video to the contest, with the St. Norbert contest only having live stats available.