Contact: Anna Fox, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, amfox@noctrl.edu
 
RIVER FOREST, ILL. (Jan. 18, 2024) - In their season opener, the North Central College men's volleyball team fell to Dominican University 3-0 on Thursday night.
 
The first set started with both teams trading off point. After a service error from the Stars putting the Cardinals within one (5-6), Dominican started to pull away. Jared Moser made a kill and put North Central within four at 11-15. The Stars slowly pulled away, once again, this time ultimately taking the first set 25-17.
 
The Stars started off the second set with a three-point run before Austin Scott put a stop to it with a kill. The Cardinals were only down one till the Stars earned four straight points (3-8). North Central found themselves down by seven (5-13), but continued to chip away. Not stepping down, the Cardinals earned seven points in a nine-point span to put themselves within one at 18-19. Down 22-23, Scott kept North Central in the set with a kill. North Central took the lead for the first time in the set with the help of another kill by Scott (25-24). Unfortunately, the Stars found momentum and took the next three points to win the set 27-25.
 
North Central took a 3-2 lead in the third set after two kills from Moser and a kill from Scott. After trading off points, the Cardinals went on a five-point run to take the lead (10-5). The Stars quickly pushed back with a seven-point run. The teams went back to trading off points before Dominican started to gain momentum once again. At 19-24 Tyler Donovan made a kill for the Cardinals, but it was not enough to stop the Stars from taking the match 25-20.
 
Moser totaled 12 kills on the night, with Scott close behind with 10. Donovan led the team in assists (15) and Wil Padgett followed with nine. Caelan Koth had seven digs while Luke Schmidt was right behind him with six digs. Connor Davis led the team with three blocks.
 
North Central will play their first home match at 7:30 pm Saturday, Jan. 20 in Gregory Arena against Adrian College.
 
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