Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Sports Information Graduate Assistant,
tkgallisath@noctrl.edu
AVCA Release
CCIW Release
FrogJump Team of the Week Release
Feb. 21, 2023 - The North Central College men's volleyball team comes in at No. 10 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national rankings while senior middle blocker,
Jeremy Cardenas earns his second-straight FrogJump Team of the Week honor and his second College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week award.
The Bolingbrook native played in all ten sets across the team's three matches in California where the Cardinals defeated California Lutheran 3-1 and No. 12 ranked UC Santa Cruz 3-0 before dropping the third and final contest in a rematch with California Lutheran 3-0.
Cardenas anchored the Cardinals defense by totaling 17 blocks on the weekend with a 1.7 blocks per set average. He picked up six blocks in North Central's first match against Cal Lutheran and five in the UC Santa Cruz match. Cardenas also totaled 30 kills in their west coast trip, hitting for .551 and averaging three kills per set.
The middle blocker's .497 hitting percentage ranks first across all of Division III and his blocks per set average of 1.368 ranks fourth nationally. This marks Cardenas's second FrogJump and fourth CCIW Weekly honors in his career.
North Central (8-3) moved up to No. 10 in this week's AVCA rankings while Stevens (14-2) headline the nation's top-15. Vassar (11-1) and Juniata (14-1) rank second and third and CCIW opponent, Carthage College (8-3) came in at No. 4. Springfield (12-2) dropped into fifth while St. John Fisher (13-3), Messiah (11-2), SUNY New Paltz (11-5), and Nazareth (13-2) maintained their spots in seventh through ninth. Southern Virginia (6-1) broke into the national rankings at No. 11 and NYU (8-4) dropped into No. 12. UC Santa Cruz (15-5), Arcadia (10-5), and Marymount (10-4) round out the nation's top 15 programs.
North Central will host its next contest Wednesday, Feb. 22 against Trine University. The match is set for 7 p.m. inside Gregory Arena.
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