Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Feb. 28, 2026) – Jonathan Brown tied for the eighth most digs in a single match with 17 on Saturday's College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin contest against RV Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. The North Central men's volleyball program tried to rekindle its comeback magic from Wednesday's match, but couldn't quite make up all of the needed ground, losing in five sets to the Titans.
North Central (7-7, 1-2, CCIW) fell in the first set 25-18. The Cardinals were only able to muster nine kills in the opening frame, as Illinois Wesleyan (14-4, 2-1) sent 16 kills to the floor along with a tandem of aces to secure the first set for the Titans.
The Cardinals evened the match in the second set with a 25-18 win of their own. Early kills from Chris Mactal and Brannen Almarales gave the visitors the early 4-1 advantage in the set. North Central extended that lead to 8-5 with a Connor Davis finish.
IWU battled back to take the lead 10-9, but North Central evened the match at 10 and went on a 16-8 run to win the set. Almarales contributed four kills to the run while Jeffrey McEachern Jr. had two.
The third set saw the Cardinals pull off another impressive comeback after having multiple successful attempts in Wednesday's win against No. 10 Loras. Trailing 23-21 late in the set, North Central mounted its comeback, riding the tail of Brannen Almarales to victory.
Almarales sent a kill to the floor to bring North Central to within one, and tied the match on the ensuing point with another finish. Connor Davis brought the Cardinals to set point at 24-23 with a kill, and Chris Mactal brought the set home with an ace to give the Cardinals the win 25-23 and to give North Central a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set was another tight contest. Illinois Wesleyan jumped out to a 14-7 lead in the set. Kevin Kustura's team began mounting a comeback.
BK Bartlett sent a ball to the floor off a feed from Almarales to bring the Cardinals to within four (19-15). A handful of rallies later saw the Titans extend their lead to 23-18. North Central didn't blink and rattled off a quick 3-0 run to get to within two. Mactal, Almarales and McEachern each had a kill during the run that brought the score to 23-21 in favor of the Titans, but three rallies later, the Titans had scored the necessary points to win the set 25-22.
With the match evened at two, the conference foes headed for a decisive fifth set. North Central found itself with an early 4-3 lead after a pair of Titan errors gave North Central the advantage. Illinois Wesleyan, undeterred by the early Cardinal lead, went on a 7-2 run to grab a 10-6 lead it would never relinquish. The Titans finished the fifth set on a 12-4 run, winning the set 15-8, and the match 3-2.
Almarales turned in yet another double-double as he recorded 15 kills to lead the team, paired with 13 digs. Almarales was second on the team in blocks with four. Mactal was second on the team in kills with nine while announcing his presence at the net multiple times with a team-leading five blocks. He also led the team with a .571 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Angelo Delgado had 34 assists on the afternoon while contributing a kill and four digs.
Brown led the team in digs with 17, tying him for the eighth most in a single match in program history.
North Central is back at home this Wednesday now that its three-game road trip has ended. The Cardinals will welcome CCIW foe North Park University to Gregory Arena for a 7 p.m. match.
