Springfield, Ohio – The Wittenberg men's volleyball team closed out the 2018 season, with a hard-fought home contest against the nationally ranked, #2 AVCA DIII Poll, in the Red Men of Carthage College. The Tiger's put up a fight through three sets falling to the Red Men 3-0 [26-24, 25-18, 25-15]. Wittenberg logged a .160 attacking percentage on the afternoon, converting 119 attempts for 36 kills with 17 errors on the match. The Wittenberg offense was led by Deion Woodson, recording nine kills on 25 attempts. Leading the attacking percentage was Isaiah Brock with a .462 attack percentage, tallying seven kills on 13 attack attempts with just one error. Brock would also add two solo blocks and two service aces on the afternoon. It was also Senior Day at Pam Evans Smith Arena as the Tiger's celebrated the Class of 2018 and the careers of Teddy Hesterman and Ryan Roark. Hesterman would record seven digs, while Roark would add two kills and a dig.

GAME BREAKDOWN

Wittenberg would record the higher attacking percentage to open the match, swinging .278 in the first set. The Tiger's converted 36 total attacks for 12 kills with just two errors. The two seniors would find each other for the first point of the game with Roark getting the kill and Hesterman the assist. Each team would battle for position on the scoreboard, with a Justin Luby kill giving the Tiger's a slight 7-6 early advantage. After back-to-back Carthage aces, Wittenberg battled back to regain the lead at 15-14 on back-to-back aces by Brock. The two sides would look for the upper hand, with Wittenberg taking a 20-18 lead. A Carthage service rally would give the Red Men back the lead. Though a Justin Luby service rally, including an ace of his own, would give the Tigers the lead at 24-23 before Carthage could come back for the first set win.  Wittenberg would record a .200 attacking percentage. The Tiger's converted 40 attack attempts for 14 kills with six errors. After a bad set by Carthage would give Wittenberg the first point, Carthage would quickly run out to a 6-2 lead. A kill by Brock would bring the game back to 7-6. A kill from Mason Moldovan would bring the Tiger's closer with the game scored at 14-10. Then Carthage would extend their lead out to 18-10. Wittenberg would fight their way back in, bringing the score to 20-14, before going down 25-18 in the set. In the third set, Wittenberg tallied 10 kills on 43 attack attempts with nine errors. The nationally ranked team showed their staying power with an attacking percentage of .368 in the final set, and a .288 kill percentage for the match.