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

Mar. 12, 2022 - The North Central College men's volleyball team treated its families to a pair of wins during Family Weekend as they took down North Park University 3-0 and Fontbonne University 3-1 inside Gregory Arena on Saturday.

North Central beat College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) foe, North Park, in four sets earlier this season and made it a point to drop them in only three this time around. With some back-and-forth action at the start of set one, Jared Moser delivered a pair of kills to take the lead 12-11. The Cardinals never lost sight of their lead as Ben Williams, Jake Miller, and Moser traded kills with North Park to take set one 25-21.

A kill by Nathan Jones got the Cardinals rolling in set two and never lost their momentum. North Central went on an eight-point run to pull ahead by 10 before Miller secured set two 25-18. Set three saw the Cardinals with an early lead yet again as kills by Williams and Austin Scott sparked a 13-9 lead. Luke Schmidt's kill late in set three rallied North Central as kills by Williams, Jones, and Jeremy Cardenas pushed the score to 25-21 to win in three sets.

In their second and final match of the day, the Cardinals struggled to pull away from the Griffins as three-consecutive points put Fontbonne ahead 19-18. Trading points from there, a kill by Cardenas, and an error by the Griffins boosted the Cardinals to take set one in extra points, 26-24. Despite leading most of set two, North Central found themselves trailing after three-consecutive points were made by the Griffins and couldn't find their way back. Fontbonne took set two 25-19.

Fontbonne continued their momentum into set three to take an early lead suffering a pair of attack errors that brought the Cardinals back to 10 all. Kills by Cardenas and Scott were accompanied by two errors by the Griffins to take the lead 19-15. Kills by Scott and Miller secured set three 25-19. 

Set four saw the score within reach of the Griffins, that is until North Central went on a seven-point scoring spree that saw two service aces and a kill by Scott, and three kills by Moser. The Cardinals won the match by clinching set four 25-18.

Matt Nealon etched his name in the record books as the No. 2 highest assists in a four-set match (46) while Moser ranks third in kills (18) for four sets and Jones is fourth in blocks (6) for four sets. 

Moser totaled 27 kills on the day while Miller and Cardenas each had 17. Nealon racked in 80 assists while Cardenas had seven blocks followed by Jones's six. 

The Cardinals will take a short break before returning to action on Mar. 18 at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill. for a CCIW match-up with Illinois Wesleyan. 

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