The Carthage College men's volleyball team (5-2, 3-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League), ranked No. 6 in the Feb. 10 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, swept Loras College (0-7, 0-2 MCVL), 3-0, in a conference match on Saturday, Feb. 14 at the Athletic and Wellness Center in Dubuque, Iowa.  The Red Men's winning set scores over the Duhawks were 25-15, 25-19, and 25-17.
 
Carthage started off strong in the first set, leading by five points at 7-2, with a kill by Tyler Saieg (So., Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove-North). The Duhawks pulled within two points at 12-10, but the Red Men kept their offense strong and pulled ahead 14-10.  Loras battled back to tie the set 14-14, however Carthage got on a six-point run and pulled ahead 20-14. The Red Men continued to capitalize on their lead and a kill from Will Craft (Jr., Crete, Ill./Chicago Heights-Marian Catholic) brought the score to 24-15 and then an error from the Duhawks closed out the set 25-15.
 
Carthage got off to a slow start at the beginning of the second set, as Loras opened up with a 3-2 lead. The Red Men battled back to pull ahead 7-5, with a kill from Jon Storm (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), however the Duhawks responded by creating a lead of 13-11.  Carthage quickly reacted and got on the attack to tie up the score 13-13 and then created a five-point lead at 18-14, with a kill by Ryan Paull (So., Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice). The Duhawks came within four points of the Red Men at 20-16, but they could not recover their deficit, and Carthage took the second set, 25-19.
 
A 7-3 lead and a kill from Craft started off the first set strong for the Red Men.  Carthage continued to stay tough offensively and expand their lead to 12-6 with a service ace from Will Ragland (Fr., North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) and then to 14-8, with a kill by Storm. The Red Men further capitalized and created an 11-point lead, 21-10, with a kill by Craft. The Red Men finished the third set and the match, 25-17.
 
Craft led Carthage with nine kills and a .217 attacking percentage. Paull had eight kills and .333 attacking percentage for the Red Men and Storm had seven kills and seven digs. Saeig collected 23 assists in the victory over the Duhawks, while teammate Marc Hansen (So., Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) had 11 digs. Michael Kreiser led Loras with seven kills and nine digs.
 
Carthage plays host a quadrangular-meet on Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21, at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. The Red Men will play No. 8 UC-Santa Cruz on Friday at 7:30 p.m., followed by Lakeland College on Saturday at 11 a.m., and No. 1 the Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday at 5 p.m.  Neutral-site matches between UC-Santa Cruz and Lakeland College will be at 1 p.m. and Stevens vs. UC-Santa Cruz at 3 p.m. on Saturday.