KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College men's volleyball team (7-1, 0-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball Conference) opened up their first-of-three games at home on Thursday, February 4^th as they took on the No. 4 Banana Slugs of the University of California – Santa Cruz (5-1). The Red Men were ranked No. 6 in the February 2^nd AVCA Coaches Top 15 Poll.
 
The first set was challenging for the Banana Slugs as errors plagued them early in the match. Carthage took a 9-4 lead early in the set as Griffin Shields, Will Craft, J.P. Tulacka and Zach Lillig each earned at least one kill. The Red Men would hold on to win the first set 25-19 and take the lead 1-0.
 
The second set would show a more competitive nature as the Banana Slugs were looking to tie the match and the Red Men were looking to expand their lead and control of the match. Neither team would break away with an early lead. Eventually, the Red Men would make a five-point run to take the lead 17-11 over UC-Santa Cruz. Just two points later, the Banana Slugs would make a run of their own to make the score 17-18. UC-Santa Cruz would tie the game at 19-19 and again at 20-20 before taking a 21-20 lead over the Red Men.
 
Will Craft would make a crucial kill on the next ball to tie the game at 21-21. Even with the momentum, the Red Men were not able to stop the Banana Slugs on the next two points as they would take a 23-21 lead. A service error by Santa Cruz and a kill by the Banana Slugs would earn each team one more point to make the score 24-22 in favor of Santa Cruz. Carthage took advantage of their final opportunity to save the set and scored three points before an epic service ace by Will Craft earned the Red Men the 26-24 win over the Banana Slugs, expanding Carthage's lead to 2-0.
 
With UC-Santa Cruz fighting for their lives and the Red Men attempting the sweep, both teams came out strong to start the third set. With the score tight throughout the beginning of the match, the Red Men and the Banana Slugs would find themselves tied at 12-12. Then, a service error by the Red Men would give UC-Santa Cruz the upper hand, or so everyone thought. A kill by Griffin Shields and two errors by UC-Santa Cruz would earn Carthage a 15-13 lead. A few points later the Banana Slugs would tie the game again at 16-16 on a kill by Ryan Mclaughlin and an error by Carthage.
 
After a quick regroup on the floor, a kill by Will Craft and a block by Craft and J.P Tulacka would put Carthage up 18-16. The Banana Slugs responded with a kill of their own, only to be overshadowed by three straight points by the Red Men which made the score 21-17 in favor of Carthage. A few points later with the score at 24-19, Griffin Shields would make a service ace that would earn the Red Men the 25-19 win in the third set, earning Carthage a 3-0 sweep of the No. 4 Banana Slugs (25-19, 26-24, 25-19).
 
"It was fantastic," said head coach L.J. Marx in a statement about the game. "The boys played great. We anticipated a dog fight and I really challenged the guys to do what we do well. Typically, when we play Santa Cruz, they're obviously a ball control team that plays faster, we like to be a bigger, more physical team and typically when we play them we run into a trap where they start playing fast and we try to match it. So, we've been talking all week about really focusing in on us, and doing what we do, and we executed that really well at times. We struggled a little bit in the second set, but a big win for the boys. I'm very proud of them. That was fantastic."
 
As a team, the Red Men made 33 kills, seven service aces, 12 blocks, 33 assists, 28 digs, and hit .303. Griffin Shields led the team with 12 kills, followed by Will Craft with 8 and Zach Lillig with 5, respectively. Craft earned three service aces along with J.P. Tulacka and Shields who each had two. Shields also led in blocks with six, accompanied by Tulacka at four and Craft at 3. Matt Reinsel recorded 31 assists in the Match and Scotty Adamczyk connected on 10 digs.
 
"What makes us dangerous at times is that, when one person plays well and if you game plan to try to shut them down, we have other offensive options that really kind of give teams some fits," said Marx in reference to Carthage's overall depth. "We have some big, physical guys that can terminate balls. You know, we're going to find some teams that do different things against us and that's really going to challenge us, but we learned early on in the season that we've got some great firepower across our starting lineup and we've got some really talented guys waiting. So, if we need to make some switches, we don't really lose a beat."
 
The Red Men continue play at Tarble Arena on Friday, February 5^th as they open MCVL play against Adrian College at 7 p.m. On Saturday, February 6^th, Carthage will face MCVL opponent Olivet College at 3 p.m. at Tarble Arena.