Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@gmail.com
DUBUQUE, IOWA (Feb. 25, 2026) – The North Central College men's volleyball program ended its four-match skid on Wednesday, authoring a thrilling five-set victory over No. 10 Loras College on the road in Dubuque, Iowa in a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin affair. Brannen Almarales finished the contest with 22 kills, tying him for the fourth most kills in a single match in program history.
The victory also snapped a six-match losing streak against the Duhawks that dates back to 2024, and brought North Central to within one match of evening the all-time series, which Loras now leads 11-10.
The first set ended in a 25-22 North Central victory. Loras (12-2, 1-1 CCIW) was the first team to gain any sort of separation, earning an 8-5 lead after a Connor Jaral kill. That lead eventually grew to 17-10, as the Duhawks used a 10-5 run to grow their advantage.
North Central (7-6, 1-1) responded with a ludicrous 11-4 run. BK Bartlett played a large role in the comeback effort, contributing two kills, a block and an assist during the run. A combination block from Chris Mactal and Almarales tied the set at 21.
The Cardinals extended the run to 15-5 to win the set 25-22. Mactal took the honor of clinching the victory with a kill on the backend of a feed from Angelo Delgado.
The second set began similarly to the first, with Loras jumping out to an early three-point lead (10-7). The Cardinals, just as they did in the opening frame, exploded for another run, this one of the 11-2 variety, giving North Central an 18-12 lead. Mactal and Almarales both had three kills over the run, while Bartlett contributed a block.
A handful of rallies later, Connor Davis put a ball to the floor after a perfect feed from Delgado to give North Central a 22-16 lead, and a Bartlett kill on the following point extended it to 23-16. A late push from Loras brought the Duhawks to within four (24-20), but an error from Loras ended the set with a 25-20 victory.
The No. 10 Duhawks bounced back in the third set, taking it 25-21. Down 21-15, the Cardinals started to mount a comeback, using a Bartlett ace to bring the match to within three (24-21), but the Duhawks were able to keep the Cardinals at an arm's length, winning the set on the next point on a Roman Rothermel kill.
The fourth set saw the host school even the match at two, taking the set 25-18. The Duhawks jumped out early 7-2 lead. The Cardinals tried to claw their way back on multiple occasions, but every Cardinal surge was met by a Loras response.
After trailing by two in the match, the No. 10 Duhawks came back and forced a winner-take-all fifth set.
The fifth set opened with the two teams playing evenly to a 6-6 tie. North Central set some space between themselves and the Duhawks, using a poor set from Loras and two consecutive kills from Bartlett to grow a 9-6 advantage.
Chris Mactal sent a fireball to the floor a few points later to make it 10-7 Cardinals.
Loras didn't go silently in the night, using back-to-back Cardinals errors later in the set to bring the score to 11-10. After getting to within one, the Duhawks committed a service error, giving the Cardinals the momentum in a hostile atmosphere.
Up 12-10. The Cardinals would go on to win three of the next four points to clinch the match and avoid the reverse sweep while picking up their first ranked victory of the season.
Almarales contributed a kill to stretch the lead to 13-10, while Davis sent a ball bouncing off the hardwood to bring the contest to match point (14-11). Jeffrey McEachern Jr. took advantage of open floor space on the ensuing point, clinching the match and giving Loras its first home loss since March 22 of last year.
Almarales' 22 kills led all players, tying him for fourth on the single-match kills list. The match also served as his sixth double-double of the year, as he collected 11 digs in the contest. Almarales tied for the team lead in blocks with three, and ended the contest with 26 points, matching the number on his back (26).
Mactal swung at a .464 percentage on the evening, matriculating 10 kills in the process to go with three blocks, while Delgado got in on the double-double action himself, dishing out 48 assists and accruing 11 digs. His 48 assists ties himself for the tenth most assists in a five-set match in program history. Jonathan Brown led the defensive effort with 15 digs.
The Cardinals have another road test this week, as they head to Bloomington on Saturday afternoon to take on RV Illinois Wesleyan at 3 p.m.
