Semifinal Box Score
Championship-Match Box Score

The Carthage College men's volleyball team (27-5, 7-1 Continental Volleyball Conference), ranked first in the April 10 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, lost the title match of the Continental Volleyball Conference Tournament on Saturday, April 14, 3-0, to No. 3 the University of California-Santa Cruz (16-6) at Thiel College's Beeghly Gymnasium in Greenville, Pa.  The Banana Slugs' winning set scores over the Red Men were 25-18, 25-23 and 29-27. 

The tournament-championship match marked the third meeting this season between Carthage and UC-Santa Cruz.  The Red Men lost a March 3 match, 3-1, in St. Louis, Mo., before winning a March 31 contest, 3-1, in Milwaukee.

With the win, UC-Santa Cruz gains the league's automatic qualifier to the inaugural NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship.  Carthage could still be in line for an at-large berth when the nine-team field is announced by the NCAA on Sunday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m., CDT.
 
Carthage reached the tournament final with a 3-0 win over Stevenson University (20-12) in a semifinal match  The Red Men's winning set scores over the Mustangs were 25-12, 25-14 and 25-11.  The tournament got underway on Friday, April 13 with California-Santa Cruz (14-6, 7-1 CVC, seeded second in the West Division) sweeping Thiel College (16-18, 3-5, seeded third in the East Division), 3-0, in a first-round match with winning set scores of 25-16, 25-19 and 25-20.  Stevenson University (20-11, 5-3, seeded second in the East) swept No. 16 the Milwaukee School of Engineering (18-14, 4-4, seeded third in the West Division), 3-0, in the other first-round contest with winning scores of 28-26, 25-17 and 25-23.  UC-Santa Cruz (15-6) outlasted No. 4 Juniata College (27-10, 8-0, seeded first in the east with a first-round bye), 3-2, in Saturday's other semifinal match. 
 
In the win over Stevenson, Pat Barry (So., Skokie, Ill./Wilmette-Loyola Academy) led the Red Men with 14 kills and a .684 attack percentage (14-1-19), along with two block assists.  Tyler Frings (Sr., Hubertus, Wis./Milwaukee-Pius XI) had nine kills and hit .818 (9-0-11), also with two block assists.  In the championship match, Salvatore La Cavera led the Banana Slugs with a match-high 18 kills and a .359 attack percentage, while Jake Dietrich had 14 kills and hit .524. 

Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) had 12 kills for Carthage and hit .308, while Matt Yanz (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Naperville-Central) had 11 kills with a .611 attack percentage (11-0-18). Hansen, Yanz and setter Connor Wexter (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) were named to the all-tournament team.