LISLE, Ill. — The No. 8 Carthage College men's volleyball team fell in non-conference action to Benedictine (Ill.) 3-1 on Saturday at Dan and Ada Rice Center.
The Red Men (5-2) began the first with a 7-4 margin until the Eagles (5-4) tied it at nine. Carthage pushed the lead back to four with a kill from Matt Slivinski but Benedictine (Ill.) battled back to get within one at 14-13. Later in the set, a kill from Braeden Waumans extended the lead to 19-16 before the Red Men took the set 25-21 sparked by back-to-back kills by Slivinski and Bryce Thomas.
Carthage sprang out to a 11-3 score however, the Eagles rattled off five straight points shrinking the deficit to two. Benedictine (Ill.) later took control of the set at 23-21 and collected the last two points to knot it at one 25-21.
The Eagles went up 18-13 in the third until the Red Men got within two with a kill from Zach Bulthuis but Benedictine (Ill.) went on to claim the set 25-20.
With the score 9-6 in favor of the home team in the fourth, Carthage responded getting within two with a kill from Slivinski and a Benedictine (Ill.) attack error. The Eagles retaliated pushing the advantage back up to five at 18-13. A late push for the Red Men made it 24-23 but Benedictine (Ill.) scored the final point to take the victory.
Carthage returns to action on Wednesday, February 12 traveling to Dominican (Ill.) at 7 p.m.
"Another battle of a match for us. We have been tested by the best teams in the West and Midwest and it should pay off greatly at the end of year.
Benedictine played a super physical match at the net and from the baseline and it got to us as the match wore on. We need to do a better job responding to physical play with our own adjustments defensively. Ultimately, I thought our service pressure broke down and Benedictine did a great job of taking advantage of that.
Quick turnaround for another one of the best teams in the region. Our road warrior mentality needs to show up and be consistent throughout the match. We are looking forward to Wednesday!"
