SANTA CRUZ — The No. 8 Carthage College men's volleyball team fell in their first game of the season to No. 3 Cal Lutheran 3-0 Sunday morning. 

• Final Score: Cal Lutheran 3 - Carthage 0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-19)
• Location: Santa Cruz, California - Kaiser Permanente Arena
• Records: No. 3 Cal Lutheran 6-1, No. 8 Carthage 4-1

• Carthage started the first set with a balanced attack, highlighted by an ace from Ryan Cholewinski that tied the game at five. 
• Cal Lutheran responded with a 4-1 run, to take a 9-7 lead. 
• Owen Otto and Ruben Emmerich added critical kills to bring the Firebirds within one point at 13-12. 
• Despite Carthage's efforts, including a late kill by Otto, the Kingsmen secured the set 25-22. 
• The second set began with a tight exchange of points before a kill by Owen Hendricks and a block by Cholewinski gave Carthage a narrow 6-5 lead. 
• Cal Lutheran regrouped with a series of well-placed kills pulling ahead 12-5.
• Otto and Hendricks mounted a brief comeback, narrowing the gap to 18-11. However, the Kingsmen maintained their momentum, closing the set with a kill 25-19.
• Determined to extend the match, Carthage jumped to a 3-0 lead with kills from Hudson Sweitzer and Hendricks. 
• Cal Lutheran fought back tying the set at 8. 
• Carthage stayed competitive, with Emmerich and Otto keeping the score close at 15-13 with two kills. However, a series of errors and an ace by for the Kingsmen allowed Cal Lutheran to pull away. 
• The set ended 25-19 in favor of the Kingsmen.

• Owen Otto and Owen Hendricks led the Firebirds' offense with a team-high 10 kills each, both were named to the All-Tournament team.
• Joe Kolwicz paced the team with 16 assists, while Ryan Morey contributed 10.  
• On defense, Zack Noland led with nine digs, while Kolwicz and Otto added six and four, respectively.

"I am proud of our fight today. I think we played hard but just didn't play clean. Cal Lu is a great team and their National Championship experience showed today. In big moments they made some impressive digs and took heavy swings. We need to learn from them in that regard.

Coming home from California, I am excited about earning two wins. We have a lot to clean up over the next few weeks, but I'm excited about what this team can do when we put things together.

Come out to Tarble Arena on January 30th as we host the Frog Jump Invitational! Some of the best volleyball in the country will be on display in Kenosha."

• The Firebirds return home hosting the FrogJump Invitational which starts January 30 as Carthage plays Juniata at 7 p.m.