LISLE, Ill. — The No. 10 ranked Carthage College men's volleyball team defeated Benedictine (Ill.) in straight sets on Wednesday night for their final non-conference win of the regular season.  

• Final score: Carthage 3 - Benedictine (Ill.) 0 
• Location: Lisle, Illinois 
• Records: No. 10 Carthage 12-5, Benedictine (Ill.) 12-8

• The Eagles initially held a narrow 10-9 lead in the first set, but Carthage responded with a commanding 9-2 run, turning the score to 18-12 in their favor.
• Despite Benedictine (Ill.) mounting a comeback and narrowing the gap to three, kills by Ben Heise extended Carthage's lead to 21-16.
• Carthage then secured the set with four consecutive points, ultimately winning 25-16.
• Blocks executed by Ryan Cholewinski and Keegan Brumitt propelled Carthage to a one-point advantage early in the second set.
• Subsequently, a kill by Owen Otto advanced Carthage's lead to 13-11.
• A pivotal ace from Ryan Morey positioned Carthage in control with a 21-15 advantage, leading to their triumph in the second set 25-20.
• Kills by Brumitt and Otto enabled Carthage to maintain a 17-13 lead in the third set.
• Carthage clinched the match with kills by Cholewinski and Brumitt for a final score of 25-19.

• Keegan Brumitt led the match with 12 kills, followed by Owen Otto and Ben Heise with eight and seven, respectively.  
• Brumitt has had double-digit kills in the last five matches for Carthage. 
• Ryan Cholewinski and Keegan Brumitt each had three total blocks, while Gene McNulty had 38 assists. 

"What a great team win today. Road wins are so tough to get, and our group came in ready to battle. I thought this was the first game where we put together a full match of volleyball. 

I was really proud of Keegan Brumitt's offense today. He was really creative in the way he scored. He hit the ball hard and then mixed in some great off-speed to keep Benedictine guessing. Ryan Morey was really great off the bench for us with his serve. He went on a bunch of runs from the baseline for us. I also thought Mitch Geiger was awesome today. His presence on the Bic and his elite passing gave our offense a big lift. Zack Noland's defense was impressive and led to some great rallies and points for our group.

Overall, it was a great match for us. This team fought as a unit. The energy from the bench was incredible and made that match more fun to be a part of.

Let's pack Tarble for North Central on Saturday! This big CCIW match will determine home court come playoff time in a couple of weeks! Hope everyone can make it out."

• The Firebirds return home on Saturday, March 23, playing No. 11 North Central (Ill.) at 3 p.m.