KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College men's volleyball team (3-1, 0-0 MCVL) started off their Saturday by taking on the Redhawks of Benedictine University at Mesa (8-3) in Kenosha, Wis. at Tarble Arena.
 
Throughout the first set, both teams would go point-for-point and eventually found themselves tied at 19-19. The Red men would capitalize on two errors by the Redhawks to take a 21-19 lead. A few kills on both sides until the score was 23-22 in favor of the Red Men. Carthage's Scotty Adamczyk and Evan Walsh would each complete a kill to secure the first set for the Red Men, 25-22.
 
The Redhawks jumped out to an early 7-3 lead over the Red Men to start the second set. Carthage would then mount a small comeback would would end up tying the game at 10-10 on an error by Benedictine at Mesa. However, The Redhawks were not going to get the Red Men take over control at this point in the set as they gained some momentum and took a commanding 20-13 lead over Carthage. The Red Men were not going to give this set up and showed their resilience by tying the game at 24-24. The set would go into extra points and a while later, Carthage and Benedictine at Mesa found themselves tied at 36-36. A service error by the Redhawks and a kill by Marc Hansen on a ball from Matt Reinsel would earn the Red Men a 38-36 win in the second set.
 
The Red Men showed their endurance as they commanded an important third set and overshadowed the tired Redhawks. The score would stay tight until the Red Men went on a three-point run in the middle of the set to take a 14-10 lead. Carthage would expand their lead a few points later to 18-12 on two kills by Adamczyk and a single kill by Zach Lillig. The Red Men would hold onto their lead and take the third set 25-15, securing their 3-0 sweep of the Redhawks of Benedictine University at Mesa.
 
As a team the Red Men completed 52 kills, two aces, 10 blocks, 51 assists, 42 digs and hit .304. Marc Hansen led the way for Carthage with 13 kills, followed closely by Scotty Adamczyk with 12 and Ryan Paull with 10. Hansen and Adamczyk each recorded one ace each. Paull made five blocks, along with Zach Lillig with 4 and Matt Reinsel with 3, respectively. Reinsel also completed 49 assists and Cody Bolan recorded 13 digs.

"We're being very cautious with some sore knees and shin splints and jammed fingers, just little things," said coach L.J. Marx regarding starting lineups in the first game against the Redhawks. "So, we moved a few pieces around today."
 
In their second game of the day the Red Men found a fierce opponent in the Wolves of Cardinal Stritch University (1-2). The score would remain tight throughout the first set as both teams rallied back and forth. With the score tied 16-16, the Red Men capitalized on a kill by J.P Tulacka, an ace by Scotty Adamczyk and an error by the Wolves to take the lead 19-16. The Red Men would hold onto the lead and would earn the first set win 25-21 on a kill by Adamczyk.
 
The Wolves regained their composure and came back strong in the second set as they jumped out to a 13-8 lead halfway into the set. Carthage would not be able to regain control of the game and would lose the set 15-25.
 
The start of the third set would show the resiliency of both the Red Men and the Wolves. With the score tied 11-11, the Red Men went on a four point run that included two aces by Will Craft to take a 15-11 lead. After a kill by Stritch's Scott Fabian, the Red Men would earn another four points to extend their lead to 20-15. Carthage would retain the lead for the remainder of the set and would win 25-19, earning them the 2-1 lead over Cardinal Stritch.
 
The score stayed tight again in the fourth set and the Wolves were battling for their lives in the match. Down 15-16, Carthage went on a nine-point run with J.P. Tulacka serving to take a commanding 24-16 lead. Two points later the Red Men would earn the 25-18 win over the Wolves on a service error. Their win in the fourth set earned the Red Men a 3-1 win over Stritch.
 
The Red Men made 44 kills, five aces, 13 blocks, 39 assists, 28 digs, and hit .237 in the four-set match against Cardinal Stritch. Will Craft led the team in kills with 12, followed by Zach Lillig with nine and Griffin Shields with eight, respectively. Craft also recorded two aces in the match. J.P. Tulacka Shields each earned six blocks in the match. Matt Reinsel made 38 assists and Marc Hansen completed eight digs.

"Some good, some bad today," said Marx, "We had our moments where we played really well, we had our moments where I think we'd all like to go back and hit replay. Ultimately though, both matches we came out and got challenged in different ways and came out with two wins, which is what we want early in the season."
 
The Red Men hit the road next weekend as they take on Juniata College on January, 29^th and Eastern Mennonite University and California Lutheran University on January 30^th in Springfield, Ohio. Carthage will return home on Thursday, February 4^th at 7 p.m. to take on the University of California – Santa Cruz Banana Slugs at Tarble Arena.

"Obviously, with both [teams] being NAIA teams, kind of like last weekend playing two Division II teams, wins or losses don't impact Division III post-season," said Marx. "It was a good opportunity for us to play some of our younger guys, a good opportunity for us to throw some of our subs in that we know we're going to need to play over the course of the next three months. And, you know, they actually played very well today. It's kind of a comforting feeling for a coach to know that we got the depth that we thought we have."