Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302

CHICAGO, Ill. (Feb. 15, 2022) - A tight battle through four sets saw the sixth-ranked North Central College men's volleyball program continue its undefeated run as the team secured its first conference win of the season against North Park University on Tuesday.

Trailing from the start, North Central managed to keep the score within two points before a kill by Jared Moser sparked three attack errors by the Vikings to put the Cardinals ahead 15-11. North Central finished out set one with a .389 hitting percentage and took the set 25-19.

North Park had another early lead in set two as North Central struggled to find its footing and fell behind 4-2. The Cardinals turned a 5-5 stalemate into a four-point run to take the lead 8-5. North Central encountered four more lead changes before a pair of kills by Moser stole the lead once more to take set two 25-22. 

Despite only eight of their points coming from kills, the Vikings took advantage of a struggling Cardinals offense to take set three 25-23. Set four brought similar starts for North Central as the team trailed North Park early but kept the score within three. At the 16-19 point threshold, the Cardinals finally found their momentum as Moser threw down a kill that sparked a flurry of attack errors by the Vikings yet again. Kills by Austin Scott and Ben Williams aided the Cardinals in a seven-point stretch to take the lead 23-19. Two consecutive kills by Scott pulled out the win by North Central, 25-20.

Three Cardinals tallied double-digit kills as Scott and Moser led the team with 14 each while Williams had 12. Scott also secured two service aces. Matt Nealon lead the team in assists with 37 while Parker Nelson led defensively with 13 digs. Nelson currently ranks fifth in digs for a four-set match in North Central history.

Quinn Robinson led the Vikings with 13 kills and two aces while Erik Bullard had 10 kills. Teddy Gedville led with 25 assists while Kaleb Patrick led defensively with 12 digs.

The Cardinals host Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday, Feb. 19 at Gregory Arena. Match time is set for 3 p.m.

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