Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (March 13, 2026) – After a nine-day hiatus, the North Central men's volleyball team returned to action on Saturday afternoon, facing off with conference foe Augustana College. The Cardinals, led by Mitchell Hester's record-tying nine blocks, avenged their loss to the Vikings from earlier this season, winning in four sets inside Gregory Arena, 25-23, 25-21, 12-25, 25-20.
Hester turned in a ridiculous performance, notching a career high nine blocks, tying him with Jeremy Cardenas for the most blocks in a single match in program history. Setter Angelo Delgado made some history of his own, dishing out 46 assists in the contest, tying him for the second most assists in a four-set match in program history.
The victory also gave North Central (9-7, 3-2) some breathing room in the conference standings, as it now stands alone in third place behind Illinois Wesleyan University and a match and a half ahead of Augustana in fourth.
Augustana (8-7, 2-4 CCIW) had the first advantage in the opening set, opening the match with an 8-5 lead. North Central fought back to tie the score, going on a 3-0 run that was bolstered by a Delgado solo block, the first of 11 Cardinal rejections on the afternoon.
The two teams traded blows late into the set, but the Cardinals finally got some breathing room thanks to a 4-0 run after trailing 17-15. Brannen Almarales and Jefferey McEachern Jr. both sent feeds from Delgado careening off the Gregory Arena floor, while Hester contributed a solo rejection to give the Cardinals a 19-17 lead. Two rallies later, Hester smashed home a kill and followed that up on the ensuing point with yet another solo block, giving North Central a 21-18 lead. The Vikings attempted to mount a comeback, getting the score to within one at 23-22 and 24-23, but Almarales and the Cardinals were unfazed, as he finished the first set off with a kill to give the Cardinals a 25-23 win.
Augustana jumped out to a small 2-1 lead in the second set, to which North Central responded with an 8-3 run that featured two kills from Almarales, and a kill from McEachern, Chris Mactal and Hester to give the Cardinals a 9-5 lead.
That lead would grow to 15-10 after consecutive kills from Chris Mactal. The Cardinal advantage continued to expand later in the set, as a rejection by the pair of Delgado and Hester gave North Central a seven-point advantage (19-12). BK Bartlett joined in the fun a handful of rallies later, putting a swing home to make the advantage 21-15. The Cardinals would keep the Vikings at arm's reach for the rest of the set, winning it 25-21, and going up 2-0 in the match.
The Vikings' lone set win came in the third game. McEachern put down a kill to tie the set at 17, but Augustana would catch fire, going on to win eight of the last 12 points to take the set 25-21.
The fourth set saw both teams play to a 6-6 tie. A pair of Hester kills, and a handful of errors later, the Cardinals had grown a 12-9 lead. The lead grew again to 16-11 as Almarales and McEachern accrued a pair of kills during another run (4-1).
The Vikings were able to chip away at the lead, getting it down to just four points (18-14). But that's when Hester went into takeover mode.
Hester earned blocks number seven, eight and nine over the next three points to put North Central up a touchdown, and tie the single match blocks record.
Augustana would cut the lead down to three again (23-20), but the Cardinals responded with a kill by Bartlett and another by Almarales to win the set 25-20, and the match 3-1.
Almarales logged his eighth double-double of the year with 15 kills and 13 digs. His 15 kills tied McEachern for the match lead. Mactal hit at a .526 clip while collecting 10 kills himself. Jonathan Brown led the team in digs with 14, the ninth most in a four-set match in program history. Delgado, who had the second most assists in a four-set match in program history with 46, had four blocks as well, a new career high.
The Cardinals hit at a .217 clip as a team and had the seventh-most kills in a four-set match in program history, with 55.
North Central continues its conference slate on Wednesday, heading to Kenosha, Wisconsin to take on No. 1 Carthage College.
