KENOSHA, Wis. – The No. 1 seed Carthage College men's volleyball team (26-1, 13-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League) opened MCVL Tournament on Friday, April 8 against the No. 4 seed Dominican University (17-9, 9-4 MCVL) at Tarble Arena. The Red Men, ranked No. 3 in the April 5 AVCA Men's Division III Top 15 Poll, were the outright regular season champions in the MCVL for the 2016 season which earned them the No. 1 seed and the right to host the tournament.
 
The Red Men struck first in the first set to take an early 7-3 lead over the Stars. Carthage would maintain a four-point lead for a majority of the set and would eventually take the first set 25-10. Griffin Shields made an impressive seven kills in the first set, closely followed by Will Craft with six kills of his own.
 
More of the same occurred in the first set and the Red Men kept a multi-point lead for a most of the second set. Up 11-9 over Dominican, the Red Men made a three-point run with Will Craft serving to expand their lead to 14-9. Carthage kept the lead for the remainder of the set and took the second set 25-18.
 
With a trip to the MCVL Tournament Championship Match on the line, both teams came out swinging to start the third set. Tied 4-4, Carthage took a 4-1 run on kills by Griffin Shields and Scotty Adamczyk. The Red Men continued to widen their lead throughout the set and took the third and final set 25-14 over the Stars. The sweep secures the Red Men a spot in the MCVL Tournament Final against the MSOE Raiders at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 9 at Tarble Arena.
 
In his opening statement following the win head coach L.J. Marx said, "It was a good win.  The guys played well.  We executed what we wanted to.  We had a game plan with some ideas on what we could do to be successful and limit them offensively as far as some of their tendencies, and the guys executed them perfectly.  We talked about it after the match, there wasn't anything that they did that caught us by surprise, which is somewhat of a testament to how hard the guys worked all season long in their game preparation." 
 
As a team, the Red Men compiled 47 kills, two service aces, seven blocks, 43 assists, 25 digs, and a hitting percentage of .411. Griffin Shields led the team in kills with 17, followed by Will Craft with 10 and Scotty Adamczyk and Max Bongratz with seven, respectfully. Both Adamczyk and Shields each earned a service aces in the three-set match. J.P. Tulacka recorded four blocks, accompanied by Bongratz and Craft with three apiece. Matt Reinsel made 39 assists and Cody Bolan connected with eight digs.
 
"Griffin has had a great year but I don't think he has lived up to his own expectations for this season," sighted Marx on Griffin Shields.  "He has had some good days but never really been fully in rhythm, and he caught rhythm today!  Which was nice!  Hopefully he can continue that.  I think if he can play like that in tomorrow's match and further down the road, I think we have a pretty good shot.  But even when he is not at his best we have enough offensive weapons to put us in the best position to win."
 
The Red Men will face off with the Raiders of MSOE on Saturday, April 9 at 2 p.m. at Tarble Arena for the MCVL Tournament Championship Title. The first 400 Carthage students in attendance for the match will receive a free hot dog.
 
"Hopefully we can get a repeat of the crowd from tonight," said Marx looking ahead to tomorrow's championship.  "Definitely having a few hundred students in the stands was fantastic.  They made a lot of noise and it brought a lot of energy to the boys.  So hopefully our students and fans come back out and we can once again get the great support that they brought tonight."
 
In regular season play, the Red Men swept MSOE 3-0 on March 24. However, winning the championship title does not necessarily mean a bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship as the MCVL does not yet have an automatic bid. Carthage will have to wait until the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship selection show on Monday, April 11 at 9 a.m. CDT to find out if they make it into the tournament.