Contact: Anna Fox, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, amfox@noctrl.edu
 
Apr. 3, 2024 -  In their final home match of the regular season, the North Central College men's volleyball team swept Illinois Wesleyan University 3-0 Wednesday night in Gregory Arena.
 
In the first set, Tyler Donovan opened up the match with a kill and helped the Cardinals take a 3-0 lead. Then, the two teams started to exchange points, and the set was tied (11-11). At 11-11, North Central found momentum to take a 9-2 run led by Caelan Koth at the service line (19-13). The Cardinals kept their lead and took the set after capitalizing on Titan errors (25-16).
 
The second set saw six tied scores and three lead changes. Illinois Wesleyan took the first point of the set, but North Central quickly tied the score with a kill by Jared Moser. After trading off points, the Cardinals earned three consecutive points, including a kill by Austin Scott (7-5). Illinois Wesleyan quickly took six straight points to take the lead (11-7). North Central chipped away at the Titans' lead, and a service ace by Koth tied the game (23-23). A kill by Scott and two errors by Illinois Wesleyan's offense delivered North Central the set (26-24).
 
The third set started with both teams going back and forth. Kills by Cooper Lundal and Jeffery McEachern, along with Titan errors, took the Cardinals on a 6-1 run (10-7). Later, at 15-14, North Central took four consecutive points to increase their lead. Illinois Wesleyan fought back and earned four straight points to cut the Cardinals lead to two (22-20). However, Connor Davis sealed the deal with a kill to give North Central the sweep (25-20)
 
Koth and Moser lead the Cardinals on both the offense and defensive fronts. Offensively, Koth tallied eight kills and was the only Cardinal to record service aces (2). Additionally, Koth recorded nine digs. Moser also tallied eight kills while recording five blocks and eight digs. Lundal led the team with six blocks, and Donovan recorded 32 assists.
 
North Central will play their final regular season match at 3 p.m. Saturday, Apr. 6, against No. 5 Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa.
 
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