#4 Carthage takes a five-set thriller over #3 UC Santa Cruz.
In the first match of the evening, the #4 Carthage Redmen and #3 UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs proved why they're considered two of the best teams in the nation, playing a thrilling five-set marathon that Carthage captured in the end, 25-18, 23-25, 27-25, 21-25 and 20-18.
Red Men sophomore Matt Klingspohn didn't make his first appearance in the match until halfway through the third set, but he made a difference quickly, getting the kill to break a 25-25 third-set tie. A Banana Slug error on the next point would give Carthage (12-5, 3-0 CVC) a 2-1 lead, but the Red Men would return the favor by playing their worst volleyball of the night in the subsequent stretch, committing 12 errors and hitting just .044 in a losing fourth-set effort.
UC Santa Cruz (4-5, 1-1 CVC) never led in the fifth set, but Carthage also never took more than a two-point lead. After one of Salvatore La Cavera's UCSC-leading 17 kills tied the set at 11, the team receiving service won each of the next 16 points before a Banana Slug error finally ended the contest. Befitting a true battle of titans, each team played its best volleyball when it mattered most as Carthage hit .414 in the fifth set, while UC Santa Cruz hit .387, the highest marks in any set for either team.
Jon Storm and Pat Barry each recorded double-doubles for the Red Men. Storm led the team in kills with 20 and dug out 14 balls while Barry was the top defensive player, recording 24 digs and contributing to five blocks (one solo, four assisted) while also registering 19 kills. Connor Wexter had 71 assists for Carthage. Jake Landel had 16 kills and Jorge Reyes had 11 to join La Cavera in double-figures for the Banana Slugs.
MSOE sweeps Fontbonne
MSOE easily dispatched Fontbonne for its first Continental Volleyball Conference victory of the 2013 season Friday night at the Kern Center, taking the second match of the second night of the 2013 CVC West Division Challenge, 25-20, 25-17 and 25-21.
MSOE (4-9, 1-1 CVC) committed just one error and hitting .441 as a team in the first set after committing as many errors, nine, as it had kills in the final set of a four-set loss to UC Santa Cruz last night. The Raiders hit .350 for the match, led by Brian Main (Sr./Lamar, Mo./ME), who converted on 10 of 16 attack attempts for a .625 hitting percentage. Alex Harbour (Sr./Middleton, Wis./AE) joined Main with 10 kills and Josh Avery (Jr./Bolingbrook, Ill./SE) had 28 assists in front of a sizable group of fans.
Fontbonne (1-9, 0-3 CVC) started off well, winning the first three points with help from two Justin Winkelmann kills. MSOE would come back to level the set at four and the scoreboard would show a tie four more times after that before two Main kills highlighted a four-point Raider run to give MSOE an 18-14 advantage. Main would have six kills in the first stanza before Sanesh Thomas (Jr./Tinley Park, Ill./AE) finished the frame off with a final spike.
Fontbonne would also take the first point of the second set, but wouldn't lead the set again. Up 15-12, MSOE went on a five-point run to end any hopes the Griffins had to level the match.
The Griffins started the third set similarly to the first, capturing the first three points, but would lose the lead at 4-4 and wouldn't see it again after an Alex Root (Fr./New Lenox, Ill./CE) kill to give MSOE a 6-5 lead. Down 15-13 and on a three-point run, the match began to slip away from Fontbonne head coach Mike Haston when he contested the call on a Thomas kill. Haston was issued a yellow card and MSOE was awarded an extra point in addition to the Thomas kill, doubling the Raiders' lead to four at 17-13. Fontbonne would get no closer than two the remainder of the set before MSOE captured the victory.
Aaron Graue had 11 kills to lead the Griffins.
Fontbonne can't handle powerful attack of #4 Carthage
Looking inspired after its earlier win, #4 Carthage had little difficulty doing away with Fontbonne in the final match of the night, winning 25-17, 25-13 and 25-15.
Carthage (13-5, 4-0 CVC) only trailed briefly in the first set and never fell behind in the second. Fontbonne (1-10, 0-4 CVC), meanwhile, only had seven men dressed for both of its matches and appeared to tire in the third set as attacks began missing their target with frequency.
The Red Men victory was their second in six days over the Griffins. Carthage won a road match against Fontbonne in St. Louis on Sat., March 2, also in three sets.