Contact: Anna Fox, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, amfox@noctrl.edu
 
Feb. 7, 2025- The North Central College men's volleyball team took down the Adrian College Bulldogs in a 3-0 sweep Friday night on their home court inside Gregory Arena.
 
Chris Mactal and Carson Steinbach got the Cardinals rolling in the first set, each recording a kill. Once North Central had the lead, they never looked back. At 12-9, Austin Scott delivered two dominating serves over the net for back-to-back service aces (14-9). The Cardinals took the first set after a 5-0 run with one final kill by Cooper Lundal (25-14).
 
Despite earning the first point, North Central dropped the next two from attacking errors. However, a service error from Adrian drove the Cardinals on a 7-2 rally to give North Central an 8-4 lead. North Central worked steadily to increase their lead, but it was not until 23-13 that the Bulldogs put up a fight. Adrian earned a 5-1 one run (24-18), but Lundal ended their drive with a kill to earn North Central a 25-18 victory.
 
The third set saw five tied scores and four lead changes. After trading off points and tying the set at 14 all, the Cardinals were able to start pulling away point by point with the help of Steinbach at the service line. At 18-17, North Central took five consecutive points by capitalizing on Bulldog errors, a kill from Mitchell Hester, and a service ace from Donovan (23-17). After service errors from both teams, Donovan connected with BK Bartlett for the final kill to take the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
 
Lundal tallied 10 kills, while Steinbach was good for nine kills, seven digs, and a service ace. Donovan totaled 34 of the Cardinals' 37 assists while recording two service aces. Scott also recorded two service aces, and Danny Smithers led the defense with 13 digs.
 
The Cardinals will travel to Trinity Christian College Tuesday, Feb. 11, to take on the Trolls at 7 p.m. in DeVos Gymnasium in Palos Heights, Ill.

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