The Carthage College men's volleyball team (13-5, 10-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League), ranked No. 7 in the March 10 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, played host to a triangular meet on Friday, March 13, at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. The Red Men defeated conference-opponent, the College of Mount St. Joseph (13-8, 6-3 MCVL), 3-2. The winning set scores for Carthage over Mount St. Joseph were 24-26, 25-20, 19-25, 25-17, and 15-12. No. 3 Kean University (20-1) then defeated the College of Mount St. Joseph in a neutral-site match, 3-0. Winning set scores for the Cougars were 25-10, 25-16, and 25-19. The Red Men then fell to Kean University, 3-2. The winning set scores for the Cougars were 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 24-26, and 15-12.
 
 "It was a good match [against Mount St. Joseph]," said head coach L.J. Marx, "they gave us everything we could handle. They definitely did some things differently than the first time we played them that we weren't expecting. It caught us a little off guard, but once we made a few adjustments, it became more of an even battle."
 
In the match against Mount St. Joseph, Carthage opened the first set with back-to-back kills from Griffin Shields (So., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Scotty Adamczyk (Jr., Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South). The Red Men then took leads of 11-6 and 17-14 over the Lions. Mount St. Joseph kept the game close and pulled within two-points at 20-18, until tying the score at 21-21. The Red Men had set point at 24-23 with a block by Zach Lillig (Fr., Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North), however, a Carthage service error tied the game at 24-24 and allowed the Lions to take the lead at 24-25 with a service ace and then win the set 24-26 off of a Red Men ball handling error. It was a tight match at the beginning of the second set, Carthage opening the game with a score of 10-8 and a kill by Jon Storm (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Nequa Valley). The Red Men battled with the Lions and a kill by Shields created a tie score of 18-18. From there, Carthage kept a strong defense and a block by Matt Ciaglia (Sr., Rosell, Ill./Lake Park West) and Adamczyk brought the score to 21-19. The Red Men continued to capitalize on their lead and took the second set 25-20.
 
Carthage got off to a slow start in the third set and allowed Mount St. Joseph to open with a lead of 7-10. The Lions extended their lead to seven points at 13-20. The Red Men tried to recover their deficit and came within five points at 18-23 off of a kill by Storm. However, Mount St. Joseph remained strong and took the third set 19-25. In the fourth, Carthage opened with a four-point lead, 10-6, and a kill by Shields. The Red Men continued to capitalize, and expanded to a six-point lead, 18-12, with a kill by Lillig. Carthage then took the fourth set, 25-17. Ciaglia opened the fifth set with a Red Men kill. A kill by Storm then gave Carthage the edge over Mount St. Joseph, 6-5. The Red Men pulled ahead by three-points, 9-6, off of a kill by Ciaglia. The Lions pulled within one-point at 12-10, however, Carthage quickly responded to their gain and pulled ahead 13-11 and kept strong to close out the set and the match 15-12.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of the guys," continued Marx, "we started down 0-2 [against Kean] and down pretty far in both of those games to battle back and make them competitive. I don't know if it's that we played that much better in games three and four, or if they kind of got off the gas a little bit, but we came up with a few very timely points in sets three in four, especially at the end, that gave us both those wins. And game five got away from us. Bez [Arsiani] is an amazing player, and he really hit the gas from the service line, so that was the difference maker."
 
In the match against Kean, the Carthage got off to a slow start, trailing 10-14. The Red Men pulled within two points at 15-17 off of a block by Ciaglia and Storm, and then pulled within one, 18-19, off of a kill by Shields. However, the Cougars remained strong and took the first set, 23-25. Once again, Carthage battled at the beginning of the second set, opening with a 9-10 deficit to Kean. The Cougars then created leads of 12-15, 15-20, and 18-24. The Red Men battled back a little, but Kean took the second set, 25-22.
 
The Red Men opened the third set with a 10-2 lead and a kill by Adamczyk. The Cougars fought back and tied the score at 17-17. The set remained tight after that, but the Red Men were determined to win and won the second set 25-22. Carthage opened with an 11-10 lead and a kill by Shields in the fourth. It was a tight match again and the score remained close throughout the entire set. A kill by Will Craft (Jr., Crete, Ill./Chicago Heights-Marian Cartholic) brought the Red Men to 22-20, but the Cougars kept it close and tied the score at 24-24. An attack error by Kean gave Carthage the edge at 25-24 and then a kill by Storm sealed the fourth set, 26-24. In the fifth, the match was close once again, opening with a tie of 5-5, however, the Cougars created a five-point lead at 5-10. The Red Men battled back and pulled within three points at 7-10 off of back-to-back kills by Shields. However, Kean continued to keep the edge over Carthage and won the last set 12-15.
 
"Shields has been playing well the last couple weeks," said Marx, "his length and size becomes a big challenge for other teams. He becomes incredibly effective when we are passing well and taking care of the ball."
 
Shields led the Red Men to a victory over the Lions with 17 kills, nine digs, and a .303 attacking percentage. Adamczyk collected 13 kills and six digs, while teammate Storm had 11 kills and five digs. Ricky Figueroa (Fr., Newberry Park, Ca./Oaks Christian) collected 52 assists in the match. Alex Vohland led the Lions with 24 kills and six digs. Shields also led the Carthage in the game against Kean with 25 kills, six digs, and a .422 attacking percentage. Storm contributed as well with 15 kills, nine digs, and a .278 attacking percentage. Figueroa collected 59 assists and Marc Hansen (So., Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) had eight digs. Bez Arsiani led the Cougars with 26 kills and seven digs.
 
"Fontbonne presents a tough match, "continued Marx, "they are such a different team than the two teams we played today. It becomes more of a mental, psychological, challenge trying to regroup from this. Hopefully we can get a good night sleep and regroup for tomorrow morning."
 
Carthage plays host to conference-opponent Fontbonne University (5-16, 1-8) on Saturday in a 2 p.m. match at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.