The Carthage College men's volleyball team (11-4, 8-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League), ranked No. 7 in the March 3 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, defeated No. 12 Rivier University (7-9), 3-1, on Saturday, March 7, at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. Red Men winning set scores over the Raiders were 25-12, 25-17, and 25-18.
 
"Going into the match, we were a little uncertain," said head coach LJ Marx, "Rivier played fairly well Friday night against Lakeland, but struggled a little bit this morning [against Benedictine University (Ill.)]. It was a little unsettling not knowing exactly how they were going to respond. But like we've been saying all year, as long as we can control our side of the court, we are in good shape. We did a pretty good job of that tonight."
 
A kill by Griffin Shields (So., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) opened up match play for Carthage. The Red Men came out strong, starting the set off with a six-point lead at 10-4 off of back-to-back kills from Zach Lillig (Fr., Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North). Carthage continued to capitalize on their lead over Rivier and created an 11-point lead at 20-9 with a kill by Lillig. The Red Men remained strong and a kill by Scotty Adamczyk (Jr., Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) closed out the first set 25-12.
 
In the second, a kill by Shields once again started off play for Carthage. The Red Men expanded to a five-point lead, 7-2, with a block by Adamczyk, however, the Raiders battled back to tie the score at 8-8. Carthage responded to Rivier's gain and created a six-point lead, 15-9, with a kill by Lillig. The Red Men continued to stay strong offensively and expanded to a seven-point lead, 20-13, with a kill from Shields. A kill followed by a block from Lillig then sealed a Carthage second set victory, 25-17. A five-point lead, 9-4, opened up the third set for the Red Men. Carthage continued to prove their strength by creating a six-point lead at 17-11, off of a kill by Adamczyk. The Raiders pulled within three of the Red Men at 18-15, however, Carthage did not let that affect their momentum and finished out the match with a kill by Shields, 25-18.
 
"Shields did fantastic," continued Marx, "he's been on a long recovery process after rolling his ankle earlier on in the year. He has been playing the last couple of weeks, but he's just starting now to get back into rhythm and in sync with everything and actually trusting and feeling comfortable with his ankle. It was good to see him have a great break out game. He's been working really hard these last couple of weeks."
 
Shields led the Red Men with 17 kills and a .696 attacking percentage. Marc Hansen (So., Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) collected 13 digs, while teammate Ricky Figueroa (Fr., Newberry Park, Ca./Oaks Christian) had 42 assists. Chris Markuson led the Raiders with eight kills and 13 digs.
 
"We are just going to keep trying to simply get a little bit better," said Marx, "we are going to find what we struggled with today and see what we can correct, and change our game plan a little bit because MSOE is a different team from the way Rivier plays. We already played them once this season, and our lineup is a little bit different from what it was when we played them earlier in the year. We know that we are an important match on everybody's schedule, as we are currently in first place in the conference, so we know we are going to get everybody's best effort because they are chasing us right now."
 
The Red Men will host conference-opponent the Milwaukee School of Engineering in a 7 p.m. match on Tuesday, March 10, at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.