ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Carthage College Red Men volleyball team's season came to an unexpected early end Friday evening in the 2016 NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship quarterfinals, falling to Stevenson University, 3-1.
 
The loss concludes a historic season for the Red Men at 27-2 overall, capturing the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League's regular season title with a perfect 13-0 record, and sweeping the MCVL tournament title with straight set wins over Dominican University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
 
"First, the most important thing is congrats to Stevenson," said head coach L.J. Marx following the defeat.  "They played lights out today. They really came with a passion and a drive and wanted to win, so I've got to give them credit for that. From our standpoint, it's a learning opportunity. Understanding that you have to have, I don't want to say a level of failure first, but you have to utilize things that don't go your way as building blocks for the future. We graduated three seniors, unfortunately we couldn't send them out on a higher note, but we bring back 14 guys with some great experience and some good motivation and drive for next year."
 
After going 24-0 against Division III opponents in 2016, including a regular season win against the Mustangs, Carthage dropped their first DIII match-up of the season in four sets despite a match-high 24 kill performance by AVCA First Team All-American, Griffin Shields. 
 
Stevenson took an early 1-0 lead in the match as the Mustangs took advantage of timely hitting and a timid Carthage attack out of the gate, outhitting the Red Men .294 to .172 in the opening set.  Despite the attacking issues, the Red Men kept the Mustangs within reach until late in the set at 20-18, when the Stevenson went on a 5-3 run to grab the set.
 
It looked as if the Red Men, who were playing their first match in nearly two weeks, had shaken off the early cobwebs in the second set jumping out to a 6-3 lead.  But after a pair of kills, a service ace and a pair of attack errors the Red Men once again found themselves battling from behind, 12-9, in the second.  The Red Men and the Mustangs exchanged points from that point on the remained of the set and it like the Red Men were going to take the second set after a pair of kills by Griffin Shields and J.P. Tulacka as the Red Men were facing set point, 24-23, swung the momentum in Carthage's favor.  Unfortunately for the Red Men the Mustangs once again had an answer as a pair of kills by freshman Landon Shorts gave the advantage back to Stevenson.  A kill by Shields tied the set again at 27-27, but Shorts was not to be denied as he added a third kill late in the set and ended the set with an ace between the Carthage back row.
 
Down 0-2 for the first time all season to a DIII opponent, it seemed as though the wheels were coming off for the Red Men as Stevenson built a 9-3 lead to open the must win third set for Carthage.  The Red Men however regained their composure in the set, and without requiring coach Marx to burn a timeout, used a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to two at 10-8.  Carthage continued to battle and after once again finding themselves in a predicament down five, used a 5-0 run to tie the match at 17-17, this time with a timeout taken by Marx.  Following a pair of runs by each team, Carthage finally took their first lead of the set late in the third with a score of 20-19.  Stevenson, who seemed to have an answer all night long, looked like they were going to finish off the Red Men in straight sets following a 5-2 run to set up double match point at 24-22.  However, A pair of attack errors along with a block by Tulacka set the Red Men up to take the set with an improbable comeback to go up 25-24.  After Stevenson tied the set at 25, an attack error by the Mustangs set up Griffin Shields to finish the set with an emphatic kill to keep the Red Men alive and forced a fourth set.
 
Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived for the Red Men as Stevenson grabbed control of a back-and-forth fourth set that was tied at 14-14 to dash the dreams of Carthage's national title run with an 11-4 run to end the game, match and season for the Red Men.
 
For the match, Stevenson held a .291 to .228 advantage in hitting while only committing 21 attack errors to Carthage's 25.  Still, the Red Men found a way to keep each set close until the end, taking advantage of 14 service errors by the Mustangs.  It was the pesky defense by Stevenson that ended up dooming the Red Men, as Carthage was unable to take advantage of their second chance attacks following continuations at the net.
 
On Stevenson's scrappy play captain Scotty Adamczyk noted, "You can't really prepare or scout for that. We watched game film, we spend the last weeks learning the inside and out of their team, their philosophy, their go to guys. But, at the end of the day they came out stronger, picked up a lot of balls, and fought back."
 
The loss also wraps up the great careers of seniors Scotty Adamczyk, Will Craft and J.P. Tulacka.  Adamczyk, a senior captain along with Craft, was and two year starter for the Red Men at outside hitter as an all-around strong player.  Craft, who didn't find his spot in the starting rotation until his senior year, took full advantage of the opportunity in 2016 as he was named one-of-four All-CCIW first team members and a second team All-American.  Tulacka, also a first team All-CCIW performer, was a two-time all-conference performer and All-American after being named second team in 2014 and first team this season.
 
Returning two-time All-American Griffin Shields plans to use the loss moving forward, stating, "I'll use the emotion I am feeling right now as motivation.  That way, in the offseason and during next season we'll never let up and know what this [loss] feels like."