KENOSHA, Wis. – The the opportunity to host the MCVL tournament on the line, the Carthage College men's volleyball team (24-1, 12-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League) took to the court at Tarble Arena to defend their perfect conference record against the Lions of Mount St. Joseph University (18-7, 9-3 MCVL). Both teams are ranked in the March 29 AVCA Men's Division III Top 15 Poll, with Carthage earning the No. 3 ranking and Mount St. Joseph sporting the No. 12 spot.
 
The first set started with no clear leader until Carthage took a seven point run with Tony Allen serving to jump out to a 13-5 lead over the Lions. The Red Men continued to extend their lead through the set and won 25-13.
 
More of the same occurred in the second set. Up 10-8, the Carthage made a four-point run thanks to a Lions error, two outstanding kills and a service ace by Will Craft to grow their lead to 14-8. Carthage remained in control for the remainder of the set and easily took set number two, 25-16.
 
Many fans expected a repeat of sets one and two in set number three when the Red Men took an early 4-0 lead to start the third set. Confidence grew even more when the Red Men extended their lead with a three-point run with Will Craft serving to widened their lead to 7-3 over Mount St. Joseph. Later on in the set with the Red Men up 18-16, the Lions make an unexpected four-point run to take the lead 20-18. Though a solid effort was made, the Red Men were unable to overcome the deficit and fell in the third set 22-25 to the Lions, forcing a fourth set.
 
Both teams came out swinging in the fourth set as the Red Men hoped to finish the match in order to secure the right to host the MCVL tournament next weekend. The Red Men stuck first on a kill by J.P. Tulacka and a service ace by Matt Reinsel to take the lead 2-0. A few points later with Carthage up 4-1, Mount St. Joseph made a quick four-point run to take the lead 5-4. The lead changed a few times from this point and eventually the Red Men found themselves on the right side of a 17-13 score. From that point, Scotty Adamczyk led Carthage in a 5-1 run to grow the lead to 22-14. Carthage kept their cool and were able to take the 25-17 win, earning themselves a 3-1 win over Mount St. Joseph.
 
With the win, Carthage has earned the No. 1 seed in the MCVL tournament and earned the right to host the tournament at Tarble Arena on Friday, April 8 and Saturday, April 9. In addition, the Red Men have secured a share of the MCVL regular season title.
 
"It is a needed win to get at least a share of the conference title and host the conference tournament, which was the goal for tonight" said head coach L.J. Marx.  "Had some great moments.  Had some ugly moments.  But ultimately we got a win which we needed as we move on to tomorrow."
 
As a team, Carthage compiled 49 kills, six service aces, eight blocks, 47 assists, 42 digs, and a hitting percentage of .295. Griffin Shields led the team in kills with a total of 14, followed closely by Will Craft with 12 and Zach Lillig with 10. Craft also made an impressive three service aces in the match. Shields made six blocks, accompanied by J.P. Tulacka at 5 and Lillig at 2. Matt Reinsel recorded 43 assists and Marc Hansen connected on 16 digs.
 
The Red Men hold a perfect NCAA Division III Record of 21-0 this season. Carthage's only loss came against NCAA Division II program Lindenwood University back on January 16, 2016. In addition, Carthage's matches against Quincy, Benedictine at Mesa, and Cardinal Stritch do not count toward their NCAA Division III record as Quincy is an NCAA Division II program and both Benedictine at Mesa and Cardinal Stritch are NAIA programs.
 
On not losing a Division III match this year Marx said, "We were able to do it for it for a few reasons. They put the time in, they worked hard in the weight room, they worked on what we needed to at practice.  But the most important thing was that we were able to stay healthy this year. A team like Mount St. Joe's took four season-ending injuries in the fall.  Any team that takes that on is going into the season facing a completely different scenario.  But we have been successful winning almost all of our matches to this point in time.   But everything stems from being able to stay healthy, and the credit falls on the guys being able to take care of their bodies."
 
The Red Men return to play on Saturday, April 2 to face off against Wittenberg College at 3 p.m. Saturday's game will also be senior night for the Red Men. A pregame ceremony will honor the team's three seniors: Scotty Adamczyk, Will Craft, and J.P. Tulacka.
 
Reflecting on the seniors to be honored on Saturday, Marx said, "J.P. has been starting since he was a freshman.  Last year, facing an injury, it was a good tough year for him as it was the first time he had really been injured in his career.  He came back this year and played very well.  He is incredibly hard on himself as far as expecting perfection every time he steps on the court, which I see at times as one of his downfalls but it pushes him.  Scotty is our silent assassin.  He does everything really well, does nothing amazing.  He does everything we need out of him as far as performing and understanding his roll on the team.  And he takes great pride in doing the little things very very well.  Will spent the majority of three years on the bench.  This year is really his first year to get significant time on the floor and he has earned it.  He has worked hard.  It has been a tough three years for him for the opportunity to present itself and he has definitely seized it this year and is playing fantastic, which is what we expect out of our guys.  They understand that it is a process preparing themselves and he has definitely held true to that."

With a win over the Tigers or a loss by the Raiders of MSOE, the Red Men can win the MCVL regular season title outright. A Carthage loss and a MSOE win would cause a sharing of the MCVL title between the two programs.