Championship Web Site
Carthage 3, Nazareth 2, quarterfinal box score
Carthage 3, UC-Santa Cruz 1, semifinal match box score
Springfield 3, Carthage 0, title match box score
Championship Highlight Video

The wait for Carthage's first-ever NCAA national championship continues.  The Carthage College men's volleyball team (29-6), ranked second in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, lost to No. 1 Springfield College (33-5), 3-0, on Sunday, April 29 in the title match of the inaugural NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship at Springfield's Blake Arena in Springfield, Mass.  The Pride's winning set scores over the Red Men were 25-21, 25-23 and 25-16.
 
Carthage advanced to the title match by defeating No. 3 the University of California-Santa Cruz (17-7), 3-1, on Saturday, April 28 in the semifinals.  The Red Men's winning set scores over the Banana Slugs were 25-23, 25-20, 20-25 and 25-18. Springfield (32-5) swept No. 11 Hunter College (26-9), 3-0, in Saturday's first semifinal contest with winning scores of 25-13, 26-24 and 25-7
 
Carthage survived the first night of the championship on Friday, April 27 with a 3-2 win in the quarterfinals over No. 4 Nazareth College (27-9).  The Red Men's winning set scores over the Golden Flyers were 25-21, 27-25, 26-28, 21-25 and 18-16.  The quarterfinals got underway earlier on Friday with Springfield (31-5) sweeping No. 13 Baruch College, 3-0, with winning set scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-17.  Baruch advanced to the quarterfinals by winning an April 21 play-in match over No. 16 Elms College (20-8), 3-0, with winning set scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 25-19.  On the same side of the bracket, Hunter (26-8) defeated No. 14 Kean University (25-11), 3-1, with winning scores of 25-23, 22-25, 27-25 and 25-21.  On Carthage's side of the bracket, the University of California-Santa Cruz (17-6) outlasted No. 7 Rivier College (26-9), 3-2, with winning scores of 23-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-22 and 15-12.  
 
In front of a raucous, capacity crowd of 1,600 In the championship match, Springfield broke a 14-14 tie with four unanswered points to take an 18-14 lead.  The Pride extended that to five, 21-16.  The Red Men closed to three, 24-21, but a Carthage service error gave Springfield a four-point decision, 25-21.  In set two, the Pride broke a 12-12 tie with two-straight points and eased out to a five-point lead, 20-15.  Springfield made it a six-point edge, 23-17, before a 6-1 Carthage rally cut the lead to a point, 24-23.  Springfield took the final point for a 25-23 decision.  The Pride broke an 8-8 tie in set three with a 7-1 run that put them up by six, 15-9.  Leading by five, 16-11, Springfield ran off four-straight points to take a nine-point lead, 20-11, and went to win by nine, 25-16.
 
Angel Perez led the Pride with 10 kills and a .474 attack percentage, while Mike Pelletier had 10 kills and hit .208 with a block solo and a block assist.  Pat Barry (So., Skokie, Ill./Wilmette-Loyola Academy) led the Red Men with 10 kills, a .240 attack percentage and three block assists.  Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) added eight kills but hit only .118 with six attack errors in 17 attempts.  Setter Connor Wexter (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) averaged  10.67 assists per set.  Hansen and Wexter represented Carthage on the all-tournament team.

“It was a tough loss,” said Carthage coach L.J. Marx.  “Springfield is a very good team.  They played fantastic.  We had a few bumps along the way, but the guys continued to play hard.  Springfield capitalized on a few of our mistakes and built on them.  They put a lot of pressure on us, and we never really find our rhythm.  We kept fighting through it, but at some point you need to catch a break, and they didn't give us a door.  Hats off to them.  The crowd was not a factor—it was what Springfield did on the court.  I knew this would be volleyball 101, and they executed better than we did.  At the end of the day, you couldn't find a better platform for our seniors to leave the program.  We would have loved the send these guys out holding the gold trophy, instead of the silver one, but that leaves us something to accomplish.  The guys staying behind know that, and that's something we'll continue to go after.”
 
“I can't pinpoint one particular area where we fell down,” said Tyler Frings.  “I think everyone could have done a little more, but you can't hang this one person at all.  Volleyball is the ultimate team sport.  One guy can't do it all, like basketball sometimes.  Everyone is involved in this game.”

The first set against UC-Santa Cruz in the semifinals was essentially a one-point contest all the way.  Carthage took a 24-22 lead.  UC-Santa Cruz cut it to 24-23, but the Red Men took the final point for a 25-23 win.  Trailing, 9-8, in the second set, Carthage ran off six unanswered points to take a 15-9 lead.  The Red Men extended their lead to eight points, 21-13, before the Banana Slugs mounted a furious comeback to pull to within three, 22-19.  Carthage held on to take three of the last four points for a 25-20 decision. 

UC-Santa Cruz jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the third set.  Carthage got it back to six, 13-7, but UC-Santa Cruz went up by nine, 17-8.  The Red Men came with a 8-2 rally to pull to within three, 19-16, but the Banana Slugs won the set by five, 25-20.  UC-Santa Cruz took an 11-7 lead in set four before Carthage rallied with five-straight points to take a 12-11 lead. The Red Men continued the remarkable 11-2 rally to go up by five, 18-13.  Carthage went on to win by seven, 25-18. 
 
Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) led the Red Men with 17 kills and a .308 attack percentage after being held without a kills in the first set, while Pat Barry (So., Skokie, Ill./Wilmette-Loyola Academy) had 12 kills.  Matt Yanz (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Naperville-Central) added nine kills and hit .320 with two block solos and five block assists.  Setter Connor Wexter (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) averaged  11.75 assists per set.  This was the Red Men's fourth encounter this year with the Banana Slugs. 

“UC-Santa Cruz plays light-out defense,” said Hansen, and you're going to have to earn your kills.  You just have to keep swinging, and the kills will come.”  “I'm not going to lie,” said Wexter, “I didn't know Randy didn't have a kill in the first set.”
 
“We have very special relationship with UC-Santa Cruz,” said Carthage coach L.J. Marx, “and we're borderline best of friends.  Beating them is sort of bittersweet.  There is probably no better team to compete against in the semifinals.  We got a little tentative again tonight, but I didn't need to remind anyone about what almost happened last night against Nazareth.  Runs and slumps and peaks and valleys happen in volleyball when two good teams play each other.  The guys did a good job of responding to it and getting some confidence back.  There's a fine line between arrogance and confidence, and we need to flirt with both of them.”
 
“If you've watched us play this year,” continued Marx, “we're an emotional team.  I'd rather play the title match in a hostile environment than an empty gym.  It'll give us motivation.  A clean start will be the key for us against Springfield.  It has to be volleyball 101, with aggressive serving and great passing.  Both teams run similar systems and similar styles.  It'll be two big teams that like to hit balls hard, both from the service line and at the net, and both teams put up great blocks.  It should be an enjoyable match, won or lost at the net with balls being hit hard.”

In Carthage's win over Nazareth in the quarterfinals, the first set was basically a one-point contest until Carthage finally found a little daylight with a four-point lead at 21-17.  Nazareth got no closer than three points the rest of the way, as the Red Men won the first set, 25-21, with Randy Hansen collecting six kills.  Nazareth had an early, 6-3 lead in the second set , which Carthage quickly erased.  The Red Men led by two points on three occasions.  The Golden Flyers were serving set point, 24-23, but Carthage stayed alive by taking the next point and then going ahead by one, 25-24.  Nazareth tied the set at 25 all, but the Red Men took the next two points for a 27-25 decision. 
 
Carthage had a three-point lead on four occasions in the third set before opening up a four-point lead at 11-7.  The Red Men seemingly had the third set in control, as the Golden Flyers were just unable to get any closer than two points until they closed the gap to one, 20-19, and again at 21-20.  Nazareth pulled even at 21-21.  Following ties at 22-22 and 23-23, the Golden Flyers took their first lead, 24-23.  That was the first of three Nazareth attempts at set point, with the first two failing on serve errors.  With the score tied at 26-26, the Golden Flyers took a 27-26 lead, and a Hansen attack error gave Nazareth a 28-26 win. 
 
Carthage never led in set four, as the Golden Flyers took an early, 11-7 lead that the Red Men erased with four unanswered points.  Nazareth went back up by four, 20-16.  From that point, Carthage got no closer than two points and lost by four, 25-21.  The Golden Flyers jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fifth-and-final set and still led by three, 6-3, before the Red Men knotted things up at 6-6.  Nazareth eased out to a three-point lead, 14-11, but Carthage tied the match at 14-14.  Following ties at 15-15 and 16-16, kills by Jim Schultz and Pat Barry gave the Red Men an 18-16 set win and the 3-2 match victory.

Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) collected a match-high 25 kills and hit. 444.  Pat Barry (So., Skokie, Ill./Wilmette-Loyola Academy) had 21 kills with a .381 attack percentage and four block assists, and Matt Yanz (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Naperville-Central) chipped in with 13 kills, a .440 attack percentage, two block solos and eight block assists.  Setter Connor Wexter (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) averaged 12.80 assists per set with five block assists.  Rob Kraft led Nazareth with 20 kills, a .545 hitting mark and six block assists.

“When the bracket came out, and we saw we were playing Nazareth,” said Carthage coach L.J. Marx, “we all knew we had a challenge.  “We played them twice this season, and it's tough to beat a team three times.  They came to play, and thankfully, we pulled things together in the fifth set.  Falling behind, 14-11, in the fifth set was definitely not part of the script, but Randy Hansen came into the huddle and reminded everyone that we've been here before, just trust each other and keep playing.  I admit, it looked bleak, but our motto all year has been to trust our system, and things will work out in the end.  Nazareth dialed it up in the third set, and we got a little tentative from the service line.  Their two middle blockers torched us tonight, and we made a few adjustments in the fifth set to slow them down a bit.”
 
“Nazareth has a good core of guys,” said Carthage's Randy Hansen, “ and they just refuse to lose.  We need to play our system and our game tomorrow to beat UC-Santa Cruz.”

Springfield College was selected to host the inaugural NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship in 2012 at Blake Arena in Springfield, Mass., and the Stevens Institute of Technology will host the 2013 championship at its Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J.  Both Springfield and Stevens hosted the Molten Championship three times since that tournament was formed in 1997 to give Division III men's volleyball sponsors a post-season experience.
 
Division III formally adopted the NCAA men's volleyball championship as the association's 89th championship at the 2011 convention.  The NCAA has sponsored a National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship (all divisions) since 1970, but sponsorship of men's volleyball in Division III recently eclipsed the 50 institutions required for a single division to conduct its own championship. 

Looking at the NCAA Championship Field:  Cal Wickens (187-69, 8 years) coaches the Nazareth College Golden Flyers (27-8), who won the United Volleyball Conference Tournament with a 3-2 win over the Stevens Institute of Technology.  Nazareth won last year's Molten championship with a 3-1 decision over Springfield College.  The Golden Flyers lead the series with the Red Men, 4-3, but Carthage won both meetings this season, 3-1, on Jan. 27 at the Nazareth Tournament and 3-0 on March 17 at the Carthage/MSOE Tournament…Sheila Gisbrecht coaches the Elms College Blazers (25-10), who won the New England Collegiate Conference title with a 3-1 victory over Endicott College…Allison Stack (148-60, 5 years) coaches the Baruch College Bearcats (23-14), who won the City University of New York Athletic Conference tournament with a 3-2 decision over Hunter College…Charlie Sullivan (221-55, 14 years) coaches the Springfield College Pride (30-5), who earned on the three at-large berths.  Springfield won the 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2010 Molten titles and defeated Carthage in the 2008 semifinals.  The Red Men trail the series with the Pride, 2-0…Don Perkins coaches the Kean University Cougars (25-10), who won the Skyline Conference tournament, 3-0, over Ramapo College…Ray Bello coaches the Hunter College Hawks (25-8), who received an at-large berth after losing in the City University of New York Athletic Conference tournament final to Baruch…Todd Hollenbrech coaches the University of California-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs (17-6), who knocked off Carthage, 3-0, in the Continental Volleyball Conference tournament-championship match.  Carthage leads the UC-Santa Cruz series, 7-6, and the two teams have met three times this season.   The Red Men lost a March 3 match, 3-1, in St. Louis, Mo., before winning a March 31 contest, 3-1, in Milwaukee…Craig Kolek coaches the Rivier College Raiders (26-8), who won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament, 3-0, over Emmanuel College.