The Carthage College men's volleyball team (23-6, 14-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League), ranked No. 8 in the April 7 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, defeated No. 12 the College of Mount St. Joseph (19-9, 11-3 MCVL), 3-0, in the championship match of the MCVL tournament at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.. Winning set scores for the Red Men over the Lions were 25-23, 25-20, and 25-16.
 
"It went well!," said head coach L.J. Marx, "I expected a five-game battle and we executed some mid-game changes that really helped us out. We were fighting a little bit through the first two sets, and the adjustments we made started paying off in the third game, and we started running away with it. It made it very rewarding."
 
On April 10, Carthage defeated No. 13 the Milwaukee School of Engineering (17-12, 8-6 MCVL), 3-0, in the semifinals to advance to the championship game. The Red Men defeated the Raiders with set scores of 25-23, 25-21, and 25-17. The College of Mount St. Joseph defeated No. 15 Dominican University (Ill., 15-11, 10-4 MCVL), 3-2, to advance to the championship round, with winning set scores of 25-19, 26-28, 23-25, 25-18, and 15-9.
 
"It was fantastic," said Marx, "we went 23-6 and it was a great season! The downside is we are in a waiting period, where typically we would be going to the NCAA tournament, but now we have to wait and hope and see if we can pick up an at-large. Hopefully the work we've done gives us that opportunity."
 
In the championship match, the Red Men and Lions kept a close first set. The Red Men opened with a 7-6 lead off of back-to-back kills from Jon Storm (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley). Carthage pulled ahead by two at 15-13 with a kill from J.P. Tulacka (Jr., Westmont, Ill./Downers Grove-North), and then extended their lead by three at 20-17 with a kill by Griffin Shields (So., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley). The Lions continued to battle with the Red Men and tied the score at 21-21 with a kill by Alex Vohland. An attack error by Mount St. Joseph gave Carthage set point, 24-21, however, the Lions battled and game back 24-23. However, the Red Men regrouped and closed out the first set 25-23, with a kill by Storm.
 
"This season turned out really well," said senior player Jon Storm, "we never lost to anyone lower than us, but unfortunately we couldn't pull out some games against well-ranked teams, but we had a really great season and went undefeated in conference, so it's awesome!"
 
Mount St. Joseph took the early lead in the second set and opened with a three-point lead at 8-11. Carthage pulled within one point, 10-11, off of back-to-back kills from Shields and Matt Ciaglia (Sr., Roselle, Ill./Lake Park West), and then took a two-point lead at 15-13 off of a kill by Scotty Adamczyk (Jr., Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) from the outside. The Red Men capitalized on their lead and pulled ahead by five points, 21-16, off of another Adamczyk kill. The Red Men remained dominant and took the second set 25-20. Carthage took a commanding lead in the third set, opening with an eight-point lead, 13-5, and back-to-back kills from Tulacka and Shields. The Red Men then pulled ahead by nine, 20-11, off of a Shields service ace and stayed strong to pull ahead 23-14 with a kill by Tulacka. Carthage won the final set and the championship match, 25-16, with a kill by Storm.
 
"Shields played really well," said Marx, "he's been a force for us all season and his size really helps us out. We couldn't be more proud of the way he worked. The seniors also did some great things for us all season. Matt Ciaglia is leading the country in blocks, Jon Storm got his 1,000 kill today, and Matt Klingspohn after missing two serves yelled 'it'll never happen again,' and then ran on the court and got two service aces. It was fantastic!"
 
Shields led the Red Men with 15 kills, seven digs, and a .393 attacking percentage. Storm collected his 1,000 career kill in the match and contributed to a Carthage victory with 11 kills, eight digs, and a .360 attacking percentage. Adamczyk collected 10 digs and seven kills, while teammate Ricky Figueroa (Fr., Newberry Park, Ca./Oaks Christian) had 41 assists. Vohland led the Lions with 13 kills and nine digs.
 
"It feels awesome," said Storm, "we've never had the conference tournament at home because it's always been in Pennsylvania, so for us three seniors [himself, Ciaglia, and Klingspohn] it was awesome to be in the position to have it here at Carthage."
 
"We're nervous," said Marx, "right now we are one spot out so we need a few things to fall in a couple of other conference tournaments to help us out and if that happens hopefully we've done enough work, and we will wait and see."
 
The NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Tournament Selection Show will air on NCAA.com on Monday, April 13, at 9 a.m., CDT. Carthage hopes to receive an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament, which will be held on Fri.-Sun., April 24-26, at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, New Jersey. Play-in matches will be held on Saturday, April 18, with the place and time to be announced.