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Box Score

NAPERVILLE, ILL. (Mar. 7, 2020) - Carrying the momentum they gained from their recent victory over the top team in the nation on Tuesday, the North Central College men's volleyball team pulled out a 3-1 final tally against Augustana College on Saturday to improve to 4-1 within the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) on the season.

Coming out firing to start the contest, the Cardinals were on fire in the first set, hitting 0.619 as a team to down the Vikings (11-9, 3-2 CCIW) by a 25-14 tally. Jason Eslinger and Jared Moser did what they have all season and led the team in kills during the set with four and three, respectively, while Ben Williams also added three for the Cardinals. Eslinger, Williams, and Justin Curtis were defensive forces in the frame as well, each recording two block assists.

Almost completely mirroring the first set, the second set gave much of the same, with the Cardinals again winning 25-14, this time around tallying a 0.333 hitting percentage. Curtis was the highlight for the Cardinals in the set, notching three kills on five attempts with no errors and four more block assists. 

Augustana recovered in the third set and managed to beat out a late run from the host Cardinals to get right back into the contest with a 25-21 set win to come within one set of North Central.

The Cardinals were able to find their footing in the fourth set, with Jared Moser recording nine kills on 18 attempts to lead the Cardinals to a 25-18 set win to put the match away.

Moser had 18 kills on the afternoon with a hitting percentage of 0.375 while Curtis had seven kills with a 0.500 percentage. Michael Trunzo had 11 digs to lead team while Curtis stood out on defense with six block assists.

The Cardinals (11-6, 4-1 CCIW) look to keep the momentum going against Loras College on Mar. 11, traveling to Dubuque, Iowa for that match. Click HERE for live stats and HERE for live video of that contest.