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Javier Romano and Michael Eastman up for a block
Kodiak Creative
0
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 10-14,1-8 CCIW
3
Winner North Central (IL) NCC 14-8,4-5 CCIW
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
10-14,1-8 CCIW
0
Final
3
North Central (IL) NCC
14-8,4-5 CCIW
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 16 24 20 (0)
North Central (IL) NCC 25 26 25 (3)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball |

Men’s Volleyball Stumbles at No. 19 North Central

Titans close out 2024 season at North Park Saturday, April 6

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team fell on the road in straight sets to 19th-ranked North Central College Wednesday night, April 3. With the loss, the Titans stumble to 10-14 overall, 1-8 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the Cardinals improve to 14-8, 4-5 in league play. 

The Titans saw senior Michael Eastman (Chicago, Ill.-Saint Ignatius) lead the offense with 11 kills, while freshman Bryce Williams (Chicago, Ill.-Whitney M. Young) finished with seven, and senior Julian Perez (Orland Park, Ill.-Carl Sandburg) added four. 

Senior Bradley Benson (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont Township) and freshman Brenden Reutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) each posted 13 assists. Eastman notched a pair of aces for the Green and White. 

On the defensive side, sophomore Jace Milka (Bolingbrook, Ill.-Plainfield East) accumulated a team-best nine digs, followed by Eastman with seven, and Reutter with five. IWU saw a strong net presence during the match, led by senior Javier Romano (Prospect Heights, Ill.-Wheeling) and junior Jake Kougan (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East), who each posted four blocks. 

Opening the match with a 3-0 deficit, Reutter dished a set to Perez, who notched the first point for the Titans, and Eastman quickly followed with an ace to close the gap to one. North Central maintained a slim advantage, until Benson fed Williams, evening the score at eight all. Romano and Kougan teamed up to stuff an attack from North Central's Jared Moser, giving the Green and White its first lead of the early contest, 9-8.

The set remained close, until NCC rattled off five straight to see a 19-13 advantage, and ultimately took the opening set, 25-16. 

In the second set, Benson found Romano for a kill that cracked open a Titan run. Following a Cardinal miscue, Kougan sent down a solo stuff before Benson fed Williams a pass, who sent one down to see IWU take a 9-7 lead, and forcing NCC to burn a timeout. Out of the timeout, Kougan registered another solo block, and Eastman notched a kill before the Cardinals could get a sideout. 

Illinois Wesleyan held control for the majority of the set, seeing a 19-14 lead, but couldn't close the deal, falling 26-24. 

Kougan got the Green and White on the board in the third set to even the score at one apiece, and a bad set by NCC saw a 2-1 advantage in favor of the visitors. 

Down 12-9, Eastman ignited a Titan comeback with a kill, followed by an ace from Eastman, and a NCC error leveled the set at a dozen apiece. 

NCC quickly regrouped and kept IWU at bay the rest of the day, taking the third and final set, 25-20. 

Illinois Wesleyan closes out the 2024 campaign at North Park University Saturday, April 6. First serve is set for 2 p.m. inside North Park Gymnasium.
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