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

Mar. 26, 2022 - The fourth-ranked North Central College men's volleyball team hosted their long-time rival, the No. 3 Carthage College Firebirds on Saturday for the program's Alumni Honors Day. The Cardinals fell 3-0 to the Firebirds inside Gregory Arena.

Set one seemed promising as two straight errors by Carthage put the Cardinals in the lead 2-1 but the Firebirds quickly found their footing never allowing the Cardinals to have more than a single point possession. The Cardinals dropped set one 25-12.

Finding their momentum the Cardinals took an early lead in set two, with the score 13-9 in favor of North Central, forcing Carthage into a timeout. That timeout proved vital for the Firebirds as they came out with seven consecutive points to take the lead 16-13. The Cardinals kept the score within two but couldn't find the rally to regain the lead as Carthage took set two 25-23.

The Cardinals worked to keep the score tight at the start of set three, but with the score tied at five-all, two attack errors by the Cardinals began the Firebirds' run. As the Firebirds gained almost three points each possession, the Cardinals fell further into a rut. Carthage eventually took set three 25-16.

Ben Williams was the Cardinals' lead scorer with eight kills, followed by Jake Miller and Jeremy Cardenas with six each. Matt Nealon had 23 of the Cardinals' 26 assists and had North Central's only block of the day. Miller led defensively with digs while Ben Pluskota had four.

For the Firebirds, Carter Schmidt led with 15 kills while David Markes had 12. Gene McNulty was the main setter for the Firebirds recording 37 assists. Matt Slivinski had two service aces and matched Kyle Cohan with five digs each.

North Central gained only their second loss on the season, both to the Firebirds, and holds an overall record of 17-2 while Carthage is now 15-3.

The Cardinals head to Dubuque, Iowa for a CCIW match-up with the No. 15 Loras College Duhawks. Match time at Lillis Court is set for 7 p.m.

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