The first round of the 2013 Continental Volleyball Conference Tournament has been completed with Carthage College and Stevenson University advancing to the semifinals on Saturday where they will face Juniata College and UC Santa Cruz. Friday's first round action saw #2 seed in the East, Stevenson University, taken to the limit by #3 seed of the West, MSOE, and #2 seed in the West, Carthage College pull away from host school and #3 seed in the East, Thiel College.
Stevenson and MSOE played the nights' most suspenseful match as Stevenson held on for a 3-2 win, taking the set 25-19, 26-28, 25-16, 21-25 and 15-13. Both teams offenses came out on fire with MSOE hitting .310 as a team and Stevenson nearly unstoppable at .448 with 15 kills and just two errors. After jumping out to a 10-6 lead in the second set the hot handed Mustangs were unable to put the Raiders away. The Raiders kept up the spirited effort, rallying back to take the set after two Mustang attack errors.
The momentum switched back to Stevenson's favor in the third set as they opened up a 15-5 lead and cruised to set win. However MSOE again battled their way back relentlessly. With the match tied at 15-15 the Raiders Jack Geary recorded back to back kills to give his team the ever so slight advantage. That was enough for MSOE as they again won the set after a pair of Stevenson attack errors.
The fifth set was a toss up with MSOE taking a quick 4-2 lead before Stevenson rallied back for a 12-10 advantage. A block by MSOE brought the Raiders to within one point with serve however Mustang setter David Moler used a perfectly timed dump ball that found its way to the hardwood between the MSOE defenders to maintain his teams lead. A kill from Jon Martin, off a pass by Moler, gave the Mustangs breathing room and they were able to close the match out with a kill from Kyle Pottieger.
The two teams offense cooled off after the hot start with numerous diving digs and blocks at the net. MSOE finished the match hitting .162 as a team with 61 kills and 36 errors while Stevenson hit .208 with 61 kills and 28 errors. Brian Main led MSOE with 24 kills while Stevenson used a balanced attack that featured four players in double figures in kills. The Mustangs also added 13 total team blocks in the match. Stevenson improves to 24-11 overall while MSOE finishes the year at 7-19.
The night's first match pitted #2 seed in the West, Carthage against #3 East seeded Thiel. The first match provided plenty of drama as well as Carthage needed four sets to dispatch of the host Tomcats winning 25-17, 26-28, 25-21 and 25-23. The Redmen offense was clicking from the start, recording at least 15 kills in each of the four sets including 20 in the second set which the ironically lost. Carthage finished the match hitting .342 with 66 kills and just 16 errors compared to Thiel hitting .276 as a team with 46 kills and 12 errors.
The Redmen defense was stout at the net as well recording three solo blocks and 16 block assists. Jeff Beach was the foundation of the wall as he notched all three solo blocks and added five block assists. Jon Storm led Carthage with 22 kills while Connor Wexter finished with 59 assists and Mike Jebens added 17 digs. Thiel was led by Dante McCoy's 16 kills while Ian Phillips added 17 digs. Carthage improves to 24-7 overall while Thiel falls to 20-12.
The semifinals for Saturday's CVC Tournament feature all four teams that are ranked in the AVCA National Poll as #8 ranked and top seed in the East, Juniata College, faces #4 ranked Carthage at 10 a.m. and #3 ranked and top seed in the West UC Santa Cruz faces #9 ranked Stevenson at 12 p.m. The CVC Championship game will be at 5 p.m. and you can watch live on video HERE