Contact: Anna Fox, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, amfox@noctrl.edu
 
Jan. 27, 2024 - The North Central College men's volleyball team swept Benedictine University in the Christian Staple's Battle of Chicago and Maple, 3-0. The Cardinals have won the Christian Staple's Cup two years in a row.
 
Christian Staple was the graduate assistant at North Central for the men's volleyball program during the 2017 season and helped the program to its first winning season with a 17-10 record. Staple went on to be the assistant coach at McKendree University and advanced to be the second head coach for Benedictine men's volleyball program. In 2021, Staple's earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVAC) National Coach of the Year. In 2022, Staple past away unexpectedly. He will always be deeply missed and held in the hearts of those who knew him.
 
In a game dedicated to Staple, both teams battled to the end to honor his memory. The first set saw two lead changes and five tied scores. North Central won six points in seven rallies, including two kills from Cooper Lundal and two from Jared Moser (10-6). Then, the Eagles used three Cardinal errors to their advantage to keep the score close (10-9). Benedictine continued to chase after North Central but was not able to keep up and a kill from Luke Schmidt secured the Cardinal's the set.
 
North Central entered the second set on a mission. Tied at 4-4 Michael Hester had a huge kill and led the Cardinals on a four-point run (8-4). Capitalizing on Eagle errors and passing out kills to several members of the team including Lundal, Donovan, and Schmidt, the Cardinals found themselves up 24-22. Hester ended the set with a kill before the Eagles were able to come back.
 
The third set increased intensity, featuring five score changes and seven tied scores. Benedictine won the first three points prior to the two teams trading off kills. North Central went on a four-point run from the help of two kills by Hester and a service ace by Donovan (5-4). At 10-10 Jared Moser gave the Cardinals the lead with a kill. North Central led the remainder of the game and an attack error from the Eagles gave the Cardinals the match.
 
No surprise, Donovan led the Cardinals with 34 assists. Hester led the team with 11 kills and tallied three service aces. 
 
North Central will be back inside Gregory Arena at 7 pm Tuesday, Jan. 30, against Aurora University.
 
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