Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, tkgallisath@noctrl.edu

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Feb. 16, 2023) - The North Central College men's volleyball team claimed its first win on its west coast trip to Thousand Oaks, California as the Cardinals took down the California Lutheran Kingsmen, 3-1 on Thursday inside Gilbert Arena. 

This marks North Central's fifth win against Cal Lutheran since their first meeting in 2018. The No. 11 ranked Cardinals move to 7-2 on the year while the Kingsmen are now 8-6 heading into this weekend's tournament.

Two kills by Cardenas gave the Cardinals an early 3-1 lead until the Kingsmen battled to pull ahead 8-6. The first set saw 17 tied scores with Cal Lutheran eventually finishing two straight kills to take the set one win 26-24.

North Central shut down Cal Lutheran's offense in the second set as Cardenas totaled four of the Cardinals' eight blocks and held the Kingsmen to a -.320 hitting percentage. With the score set at 22-11, the Cardinals scored three straight points before Jake Miller finished the set with a kill to take the 25-12 set win. 

North Central rebounded from a .188 hitting percentage in the second set to an exceptional .529 in set three led by Jared Moser with four kills and Miller with three. The Cardinals gained and held the lead for much of the third set while a five-set run extended their lead to 16-10. Chipping away point by point, the Cardinals prevailed in set three 25-18.

Hitting for .417 in the fourth and final set, North Central extended their lead by three or more points across four possessions to secure the match win with a 25-17 set victory. 

Three Cardinals hit for double-digit kills as Moser and Austin Scott each had 11 while Miller had 10. Tyler Donovan totaled 40 assists on the evening with three kills, three aces, four blocks, and two digs. Cardenas led with five blocks on the night while Moser and Connor Davis each had four. 

North Central is back at the Gilbert Arena Friday night with a nationally-ranked match-up against No. 12 the University of California, Santa Cruz. The match is set for 7 p.m. (PT). 

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