Springfield, Ohio – The Wittenberg men's volleyball team hosted the Cardinals of North Central College on Friday evening, battling the Cardinals to a 3-1 loss [25-10, 25-17, 23-25, 25-21]. After falling in the first two sets, the Tiger's stayed alive to take the third set by a narrow 25-23 margin with a .175 attacking percentage. Wittenberg was held to just seven kills on 27 attempts in the first set for a -.037 attacking percentage. The Wittenberg offense would be led by Ashton Sellers, logging 20 kills on 46 attack attempts for a .217 attacking percentage.
GAME BREAKDOWN
The Cardinals would open up the first set of the game on a 6-0 scoring run. Wittenberg found their way on the board, coming off the Deion Woodson kill from the Ross Russell assist. The Tiger's would score back-to-back points early in the first set on the Isaiah Brock kill, followed by the Sellers service ace. The Cardinals would take the second set, having to hold off the Wittenberg fight for a final score of 25-17. Wittenberg tallied 10 kills on 26 total attack attempts for a .154 attacking percentage. The Tiger's would chip away at the North Central lead to bring the game to 8-6 and then 11-7, coming off of kills from Sellers and Brock. Wittenberg would get their first win of the evening in the third set of the match by a score of 25-23, holding off the late North Central rally. The Tiger's tallied 13 kills on 40 attacks, for a .175 attacking percentage. Each side would battle for the advantage in the third set, as back-to-back kills by Woodson and Sellers would finally start to push the momentum the Wittenberg way. Wittenberg would extend their lead out to 18-15 before North Central would tie the game back up. A block by Brock and Sellers gave Wittenberg the 23-20 lead, as the Tigers would go on to extend the game to a fourth set. Wittenberg would take another lead in the final set, but North Central would storm back to tie the game at 10-10. As the two sides battled for the advantage, the scoreboard lit up at 14-14, and then saw the Tigers lead at 20-18 and 22-20. Though Wittenberg would be unable to withstand the final Cardinals service rally, falling 25-21 in the final set.