SPRINGFIELD — The top-seeded Wittenberg men's volleyball team defeated fourth-seeded Mount Union 3-1 in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League Tournament semifinals on Friday night, extending its current win streak to nine games. The Tigers won 25-17, 22-25, 27-25, 25-17 and will face third-seeded Trine in Saturday's tournament championship game.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (19-8 overall), Mount Union (13-10 overall)
• Venue: Pam Evans Smith Arena - Springfield, Ohio
• Tournament Info Website
• Baldwin Wallace won the MCVL Tournament championship in 2023.
• Third-seeded Trine defeated second-seeded Baldwin Wallace in Friday's other semifinal match.
• The winner of Saturday's tournament championship game earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The tournament selection show will air on NCAA.com on Monday at 10 a.m.

Stat Leaders

• Sophomore Michael Yurk (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) led the Tigers, tying the program record for kills in a four-set match with 23, matching the total posted by senior Tom Supan (Medina, Ohio/Medina) in a game against Trine in 2023. That also matched the program record for the most kills in a match of any length, as Yurk and Dylan Kolovitz recorded 23 kills in a five-set match in 2023.
• Yurk hit .395 in the match and also tallied double-digit digs with 11.
• Sophomore Eli Halverson (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) hit .391 and posted 12 kills. He led the team with three blocks.
• Supan added 11 kills and 15 digs.
• Sophomore Sam Richardson (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and senior Andrew Diaz de Padilla (Nipomo, Calif./Central Coast New Tech) led the team in assists with 26 and 21, respectively.
• Jack McClure led the Purple Raiders with 13 kills.

The Game

• The Tigers raced out to a 17-10 lead in the first set en route to the 25-17 victory.
• A tightly contested second set saw Mount Union take a late 21-17 lead. With the Purple Raiders leading 24-20, Wittenberg scored two straight points on a kill from sophomore Trajan Kress (Cincinati, Ohio/Sycamore) and a Mount Union attack error. But the Purple Raiders scored the next point on a Wittenberg service error to win the set, 25-22.
• The Raiders rode that momentum into the third set, opening an 11-5 lead, but the Tigers answered with an 8-2 run to tie the score at 13-all. Mount Union scored six of the next eight points for a 19-15 edge before Wittenberg fought back to take a 20-19 lead. The teams played to ties of 23-, 24- and 25-all, but the Tigers scored the next two points on kills from Yurk for the 27-25 victory.
• Wittenberg built a 20-14 lead in the fourth set and scored five of the next eight points to clinch the match. Halverson had a pair of kills to go with one from Yurk in that closing stretch.

Post-Game Press Conference

Records & Milestones

• Third-year head coach Nathan Matthews is now 49-35 all-time at Wittenberg.
• Wittenberg is making its second all-time appearance in the MCVL Tournament and is seeking its first tournament title. The Tigers fell 3-1 in the semifinals to eventual champion Baldwin Wallace in 2023.
• Wittenberg is now 5-5 all-time against Mount Union. During the regular season, on March 15, the Tigers defeated the Purple Raiders 3-0, winning 25-22, 25-19, 25-20.
• On Thursday, the MCVL announced Matthews as the league's Coach of the Year and Monnin as the league's Rookie of the Year. Yurk earned All-MCVL First Team recognition, and Monnin, Supan and Halverson were named to the Second Team. Matthews has now earned Coach of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons.
• Diaz de Padilla has a team-high 582 assists this season and ranks third in program history with 1,192 career assists. His 610 assists from last season rank seventh in program history for a single season. Richardson ranks fifth in program history with 735 career assists.
• Yurk has a team-high 331 kills this season, which is a program record for a single season. He ranks fourth in program history with 524 career kills. Halverson ranks sixth in program history with 490 career kills, and Supan ranks ninth with 431 career kills.
• Supan has a team-high 221 digs this season, which ranks third all-time at Wittenberg for a single season. His 354 career digs is tied for fifth in program history, and he is the program's all-time leader in career aces with 79. Sophomore Jake Downs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Milford) ranks seventh all-time with 319 career digs.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Saturday hosting the MCVL Tournament championship game against Trine at 3 p.m.