Mens volleyball pregame huddle vs North Central College March 1, 2023

Adam Day

Men’s Volleyball Travels to Windy City for CCIW Midweek Match

Titans look to pick up first conference win of 2023 season

3/7/2023 10:00:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team will hit the road to North Park University for a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin midweek matchup Wednesday, March 8. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside the North Park Gymnasium.

The Titans (9-8, 0-2 CCIW) look to pick up their first conference win of the season after dropping matches to No. 10 North Central College March 1, and No. 4 Carthage College March 4. North Park enters the match with an 8-7 overall record, and 0-2 in CCIW action, both losses coming at the hands of the Firebirds.

Juniors Michael Eastman (Chicago, Ill.-Saint Ignatius) and Julian Perez (Orland Park, Ill.-Carl Sandburg) have led the offense for the Green and White with 172 and 102 kills, respectively. Eastman's 3.07 kills per set average is good for fourth-best in the competitive conference, while his 24 aces in 56 sets, an average of 0.43 aces per set, is tied for second-highest in the CCIW.

The Titan defense has been led by sophomore Jake Kougan (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) and Perez up front. Kougan has 35 blocks on the season, while Perez has 29. With 92 in his career, Perez looks to be the first Titan to break the century mark in blocks for the Green and White.

The match against the Vikings will be the seventh all-time meeting in program history, North Park having won all six prior. The most recent battle between the two teams came on April 2, 2022 with the Vikings narrowly winning the five-set battle inside Shirk Center. The match saw Eastman notch 20 kills, while then-freshman Ryan Myers (Hawthorn Woods, Ill.-Stevenson) recorded a career-best 18.

The game will be live streamed, which can be found here, and live stats can be accessed by clicking here.

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