Carthage 3, Fontbonne 0
Carthage 3, UC-Santa Cruz 1
Carthage 3, Mount St. Joseph 1
The Carthage College men's volleyball team (25-4, 6-1 Continental Volleyball Conference), ranked second in the March 27 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll,
went 3-0 at the Saturday-Sunday, March 31-April 1 CVC Weekend II Tournament at the Milwaukee School of Engineering's Kern Center in Milwaukee.
Carthage opened tournament play on Saturday, March 31 by sweeping Fontbonne University (2-26, 0-6 CVC), 3-0, and then knocking off No. 1 the University of California-Santa Cruz (13-6, 7-1 CVC) by a 3-1 margin. The Red Men's winning set scores over the Griffins were 25-17, 25-22 and 25-11, and their winning scores over the top-ranked Banana Slugs were 25-18, 16-25, 25-18 and 25-17. On Sunday, April 1, Carthage swept the College of Mount St. Joseph (4-20, 1-6 CVC), 3-0, with winning scores of 25-12, 25-18 and 25-13.
The Red Men's
Matt Yanz (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Naperville-Central) led the way against Fontbonne with 12 kills and a .667 attack percentage (12-2-15), along with four block assists, while
Pat Barry (So., Skokie, Ill./Wilmette-Loyola Academy) had 10 kills with a .350 mark.
Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill.) added nine kills and hit. 400. Setter
Connor Wexter (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) averaged 11.67 assists per set.
In the UC-Santa Cruz contest, Barry collected a match-high 20 kills and hit .447 with two block assists.
Jim Schultz (So., Salem, Wis./Westosha-Central) had 12 kills with a .368 mark and three block assists, Hansen 12 kills, and Yanz added 11 kills with a .409 attack percentage, 1 block solo and six block assists. Wexter averaged 12.0 assists per set against the Banana Slugs. "It was what we expected, which was a great match,” said Carthage coach
L.J. Marx. “I don't want to say we expected to win, obviously we thought we could. Santa Cruz and Carthage have two of the most opposite styles of play. We're all about horsepower and hitting balls hard, and they're all about ball control and extending rallies. We knew it was going to be interesting at times, and it was. I'm very proud of the boys for holding it together and coming out with a win."
In the Mount St. Joseph match, Hansen had 11 kills and hit .400 with two block assists, while Yanz had six kills and four block assists. The Red Men return to the Kern Center on Wednesday, April 4 to play their regular-season finale against conference-opponent the Milwaukee School of Engineering (18-12, 4-3 CVC) in a 7 p.m. match
