The Carthage College men's volleyball team (14-5, 11-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League), ranked No. 7 in the March 10 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, defeated conference-opponent Fontbonne University (5-17, 1-9), 3-0, on Saturday, March 14 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. Winning sets for the Red Men were 25-12, 25-13, and 25-16.
 
A kill by Griffin Shields (So., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) started off the match for Carthage. The Griffins kept it close with the Red Men at the beginning of the first set, trailing by just two points, 10-8. Carthage kept a strong defense and three blocks in a row brought the score to 16-9. The Red Men then created a ten-point lead, 19-10 off of a kill by Scotty Adamczyk (Jr., Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South). Carthage continued to capitalize on their lead and closed out the set with a kill from Adamczyk 25-12.
 
In the second set, the Red Men opened with leads of 9-4, 13-6, and 16-10. Carthage continued to maintain control of the set and extended their lead to 21-12 with a kill by Shields. The Red Men kept strong and won the second set, 25-13. Back-to-back kills from Zach Lillig (Fr., Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) and Adamczyk started off Carthage with a six-point lead, 9-3, in the third set. The Red Men remained dominate in the match and took leads of 12-5 and 18-10. Fontbonne pulled within five points of Carthage with a service ace at 20-15, however, the Red Men held control and won the final set 25-16.
 
"It went well," said head coach L.J. Marx, "I was a little concerned after the tough matches last night how we were going to be from an energy standpoint this morning, and the guys came out and played very well during the first two sets and closed out the match well. I was very happy."
 
Adamczyk and Shields led Carthage, each with 11 kills. Adamczyk had a .318 attacking percentage and collected five digs, while Shields had a .588 attacking percentage and three digs. Ricky Figueroa (Fr., Newberry Park, Ca./Oaks Christian) accumulated 27 assists and Marc Hansen (So., Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) collected 11 digs. Fontbonne was led by Anthony Pitaro with six kills and two digs.
 
"They [SUNY-New Paltz] are a really good physical, well-coached team," continued Marx, "it is going to be a big challenge for us. Hopefully we can recreate some of our energy that we had last night and turn that into Wednesday and maybe give us the opportunity to sneak one out."
 
The Red Men play host to No. 3 the State University of New York-New Paltz (16-3) on Wednesday, March 18, in a 7 p.m. contest at Tarble Arena.