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

Apr. 15, 2023 - The North Central College men's volleyball program put on a show for a packed Gregory Arena as the Cardinals claimed their first-ever College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) tournament championship title and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after defeating two-time defending conference and national champion, Carthage College 3-1 Saturday night.

North Central (22-3, 10-0 CCIW) continues its best record and longest win streak (14) in program history after taking down Carthage (17-7, 8-2 CCIW) for the third time this season. A trio of Cardinals notched double-digit kills with Jared Moser leading the way at 15 followed by Ben Williams and Luke Schmidt as each recorded 12. Tyler Donovan totaled 36 assists to help the Cardinals to a .313 hitting percentage on the night. Donovan and Moser shared the team leads in digs at seven while Jeremy Cardenas led both teams with four blocks. 

Set one saw eight tied scores and two lead changes before the Cardinals got rolling with a three-point rally featuring kills by Moser and Schmidt and a service ace for Ben Pluskota to give North Central the 12-9 advantage. The Cardinals managed a pair of two-point possessions to set the score at 18-14 before battling point for point with the Firebirds. With North Central leading 23-20, a Firebird service error and a return kill by Schmidt snagged the set one win 25-20.

The Cardinals came out firing in set two moving to a 6-2 advantage early on. Donovan connected with Cardenas, Williams, and Moser for three straight points to lead 14-9 while holding the Firebirds to one-point possessions. North Central moved to 22-12 thanks to kills by Moser and Schmidt, and an ace by Donovan, inching their way to a two-set lead. A kill by Williams and a Firebird attack error ended set two with the biggest spread of the night at 25-15.

Set three saw the birds battling point-for-point before Carthage scored four-straight points to lead 16-11. Moser answered back with two kills and a service ace to bring the score within two, but the Firebirds fought for five more points to lead 21-14. Schmidt and Jeffrey McEachern had their hands in a four-point run for North Central but were ultimately halted as Carthage scored three more points to take set three 25-19. 

With the Cardinals up two sets to one, the Firebirds quickly transitioned their previous momentum into the fourth set taking an early 6-1 lead. North Central slowly climbed out of a five-point deficit and took a 15-13 lead after scoring three consecutive points thanks to kills by Parker Nelson and Moser. A trio of kills by Williams, Cardenas, and Donovan moved North Central into a 22-19 advantage before trading the last six points of the match and taking the 25-22 win off a Firebird service error.

The Cardinals earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the Regional semifinal matches to be contested on Friday, April 21 with the championship matches set for Saturday, April 22. The NCAA Selection Show will be Monday, April 17 where all teams, locations, and times will be announced. 

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