CHICAGO, Ill. – North Park Volleyball plays their best against the best competition, and that was proven again on Wednesday night. The Vikings were stride-for-stride with No. 7-ranked Carthage College, falling in four close sets (25-20, 18-25, 26-28, 22-25).

As has been the case all season long, North Park started out red hot, hitting .308 with 11 kills and three aces in the first set of the night. Junior outside hitters Vicente Cabrera and Ty Ingrao found the groove against one of the nation's best frontlines, each picking up four kills in set one. Sophomore pin hitter Pablo Ocasio followed with three while junior setter Liam Miller led the Vikings in the set with five assists and a .556 mark.

After dropping the second set, 25-18, North Park roared back with a gritty third set. North Park dug out 16 of Carthage's fast-paced attacks, four different Vikings had three digs in the set: Ocasio, Ingrao, senior middle blocker Parker Payne, and senior setter Teddy Gedville. Gedville also had 13 assists in the set while Ocasio drove a set-high eight kills. However, defense proved to be the key piece in this win for Carthage, as the Firebirds stuffed nine attacks in the set. Carthage's Ryan Colewinski and Ben Heise both had four block assists while Keegan Brummitt had three.

In the final set of the night, North Park jumped out to a 7-3 lead on kills from Gedville and Ingrao, some Firebird errors, and an ace for Ocasio. The Vikings kept this lead, even growing it to 11-5 on batches of attack errors by the Firebirds, but Carthage would chip away at NPU's lead before overtaking the Vikings, 19-18. North Park forced a 22-22 tie after a service error by the Firebirds and big solo block by Ingrao. However, an NPU service error and consecutive kills by Keegan Brumitt concluded the match with a 25-22 win for Carthage.

• 16 kills for Ingrao, 15 each for Ocasio and Cabrera
• Pair of aces for Cabrera and Ocasio
• Three blocks for Ocasio, two for Payne and Ingrao
• Double-digit digs for Ocasio (11) and senior libero Kaleb Patrick (10)
• Firebirds with 14 blocks - seven by Ethan Sprague and six by Heise

North Park (8-19, 1-8) is eliminated from CCIW playoff contention and will round out its season on Saturday, April 6, against Illinois Wesleyan. First serve, following senior day festivities, is set for 2:00 PM.