CHICAGO, Ill. – For the first time in program history, the North Park men's volleyball team took down an opponent ranked in the AVCA National Top 20 with a five-set win over North Central on Wednesday night.
North Park put the 14th-ranked Cardinals on their heels right away thanks to quality defense and accurate, selected attacks from the Vikings. In the first set, North Park held North Central to just a .079 attacking percentage thanks to five digs each from sophomore pin hitter Pablo Ocasio and senior libero Kaleb Patrick alongside blocks from junior middle blocker Sam Robinson, senior setter Teddy Gedville, and Ocasio. Junior outside hitter Vicente Cabrera led the NPU attack with four kills and a .250 attacking percentage in set one.
North Central won sets two and three with respective scores of 25-17 / 25-19 thanks to six kills from Jared Moser in both sets. Moser did not make an error in either set, hitting .600 and 1.000.
With the match on the line, North Park played its best set of the night in the fourth. The Vikings showcased a match-high .244 attacking percentage with 16 kills, including six from junior outside hitter Ty Ingrao, five from Ocasio, and four from Cabrera. Patrick provided eight more digs for the NPU defense and Robinson swatted down two Cardinal attacks with solo blocks to lead NPU to the 25-21 fourth-set victory.
In the deciding set, North Park scored the first four points thanks to two Cardinal attacking errors and a kill by Ingrao and Ocasio.
Once more, the Vikings held the Cardinals under .100, forcing seven attacking errors to continue holding their lead. Ingrao had four kills in the final set of the night while a solo block by Ocasio, straight down from the net off a tip, gave North Park its first win over North Central in program history.
- 16 digs for Patrick
- 19 kills for Ingrao, alongside a .217 hitting percentage
- 4 block assists and 4 solo blocks for Robinson, a new career high total
- Cabrera (13) and Ocasio (10) reach double-digit kills
- Junior utility player Adrian Cales (13) and Ingrao (11) with double-digit digs
- Carthage's Jared Moser leads the match with 23 kills and a .429 clip
North Park (8-17, 1-6) keeps its playoff hopes alive as they head to Rock Island this coming Saturday, March 30, for a Battle of the Vikings against Augustana. First serve is set for 3:00 PM.
