KENOSHA, Wis. – Looking to defend their MCVL Tournament title, the Carthage College men's volleyball team (27-1, 13-0 Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League) took to the court at Tarble Arena for one last time this season to face off against the Raiders of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (18-8, 12-1 MCVL). In the April 5 AVCA Men's Division III Top 15 Poll Carthage earned the No. 3 ranking and MSOE captured the No. 13 spot.

"It was great to see the boys go out there today, play well, and claim the tournament title to go along with the regular season title," said head coach L.J. Marx.  "It caps off a regular season, but we wanted more and now we have put ourselves in a great position looking ahead to the selection show on Monday and the NCAA Tournament."
 
The Red Men took a quick 4-0 lead in the first set with Matt Reinsel back to serve. A few points later with Carthage leading 7-8, the Red Men made another four-point run on a kill by Zach Lillig, two errors by the Raiders, and a service ace by Griffin Shields to expand their lead to 11-6. The Raiders were unable to close in on Carthage's lead as the Red Men took the first set 25-21. Carthage had an outstanding hitting percentage of .500 in the first set.
 
Looking for redemption, the Raiders took a 5-2 lead to start the second set. Trailing 5-6, the Red Men tabulated a six-point run with Shields serving to take the lead 11-6. Carthage kept the lead for the remainder of the set and took the second set 25-22 over the Raiders.
 
The Red Men took control one again to start the third set as they jumped out to 5-2 lead over MSOE. With Carthage leading 6-4, the Raiders made a surprising four-point run to take the lead 8-6. A few points later, Carthage made an 8-2 run and took control of the set with a commanding 18-13 lead over the Raiders.  The Red Men held onto their lead and eventually took the third and final set 25-18, which earned Carthage the MCVL Tournament Championship Title.
 
The Red Men have won both the MCVL Regular Season title and the MCVL Tournament title two years in a row, the only two years that the MCVL has been in existence.
 
As a team, the Red Men recorded 42 kills, four service aces, 11 blocks, 40 assists, 37 digs, and a hitting percentage of .360. Griffin Shields lead the team in kills with 14, accompanied by Will Craft and J.P. Tulacka with apiece. Shields also earned three service aces in the match. J.P. Tulacka made an outstanding six blocks against MSOE, closely followed by Scotty Adamczyk with five and Zach Lillig with three, respectively. Matt Reinsel connected on 39 assists and nine digs.
 
Griffin Shields, J.P. Tulacka, and Cody Bolan were named to the All-MCVL Tournament team from Carthage. Shields was also named MVP of the MCVL Tournament. Other student-athletes name to the all-tournament team were Luke Spicer from Dominican, Tim Robbins from Lakeland, and Quink Krisik and Sam Stealey from MSOE.
 
Although the MCVL does not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, the Red Men still have a shot at an at-large berth to the tournament. During the 2016 season, the Red Men recorded a perfect Division III record of 24-0. Carthage previously made the tournament back in 2014 and 2012.

Looking ahead to the NCAA Tournament Marx said, "We talked about it at the beginning of the year and throughout, if we don't lose a Division III match they can't keep us out. It was a lofty goal and the boys deserve credit for accomplishing it!   So now we have some time off but have to keep working hard as we shoot for our ultimate goal, a National Championship."
 
The team will find out if they make the tournament during the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship selection show on Monday, April 11 at 9 a.m. CDT. The show can be viewed on NCAA.com.