Carthage College 2012 Men’s Volleyball Preview
|
Name of school |
Carthage College |
|
Location |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
Founded |
1847 |
|
Enrollment |
2,530 |
|
Nickname |
Red Men |
|
School colors |
Red, white and black |
|
Home arena |
Tarble Arena |
|
Capacity |
2,475 |
|
Affiliation |
NCAA Division III |
|
Conference |
CCIW |
|
President |
F. Gregory Campbell |
|
Athletics director |
Robert Bonn |
|
Assistant athletics director |
Steve Marovich |
|
Senior woman administrator |
Leanne Ulmer |
|
Athletics phone |
262-551-5942 |
|
First year of men’s volleyball |
2005 |
|
Overall all-time record |
124-93, 7 years |
|
Years in NCAA/last |
N/A |
|
Last post-season event |
3rd in the 2011 Molten Championship |
|
Sports information director |
Steve Marovich |
|
SID e-mail |
|
|
SID office phone |
262-551-5740 |
|
SID home phone |
262-551-5547 |
|
SID Fax |
262-551-5926 |
|
Athletics fax |
262-551-5995 |
|
Hotline |
262-551-5388 |
|
Athletics web site |
|
|
SID Mailing Address |
2001 Alford Park Drive Kenosha, WI 53140 |
Kenosha News
Dave Marran, sports editor
715 58th St./Kenosha, WI 53141
262-656-6290; 262-657-4946 (FAX)
Racine Journal-Times
Susan Shemanske, sports editor
212 4th St./Racine, WI 53403
262-631-1750; 262-631-1780 (FAX)
|
Head Coach |
L.J. Marx |
|
Alma mater, year |
Carthage, 2003 |
|
Record at school (years) |
124-93 (7 years) |
|
Career record (years) |
124-93 (7 years) |
|
Men’s volleyball phone |
262-551-5933 |
|
Best time to reach |
9 a.m. – Noon |
|
|
|
|
Head athletics trainer |
Laurie Jensen |
|
|
Total |
Home |
Away |
Neutral |
|
2011 record |
23-11 |
4-1 |
8-6 |
11-4 |
|
M-III record |
8-0 |
4-0 |
2-0 |
2-0 |
|
Conference finish |
1st |
|
Final ranking last year |
3rd tie |
|
Poll |
AVCA |
|
Starters returning/lost |
6/0 |
|
Letterwinners returning/lost |
14/2 |
|
DATE |
DAY |
OPPONENT |
TIME |
LOCATION |
|
Jan 17 |
Tue. |
Loyola (Ill.) |
7 p.m. |
Chicago, Ill. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nazareth Tournament |
|
|
|
Jan 27 |
Fri.. Fri.. |
Southern Vermont Nazareth |
4 p.m., EST 6 p.m., EST |
Rochester, N.Y. Rochester, N. Y. |
|
Jan 28 |
Sat. Sat. |
Philadelphia Biblical TBA |
10 a.m., EST TBA |
Rochester, N.Y. Rochester, N. Y. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb. 3 |
Fri. |
Quincy |
7 p.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
Feb. 11 |
Sat. |
St. Xavier |
1 p.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
Feb. 12 |
Sun. |
Lindenwood |
1 p.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb. 17 |
Fri. |
Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne |
7 p.m., EST |
Fort Wayne, Ind |
|
Feb. 19 |
Sun. |
Ohio State |
3 p.m., EST |
Columbus, Ohio |
|
Feb. 28 |
Tue. |
*Milwaukee School of Engineering |
7 p.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CVC Weekend I |
|
|
|
March 3 |
Sat. |
*California-Santa Cruz |
3 p.m. |
St. Louis, Mo. |
|
March 4 |
Sun. |
*Fontbonne |
11 a.m. |
St. Louis, Mo. |
|
March 4 |
Sun. |
*Mount St. Joseph |
1 p.m. |
St. Louis, Mo. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 9 |
Fri. |
Quincy |
7 p.m. |
Quincy, Ill. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fontbonne Tournament |
|
|
|
March 10 |
Sat. |
Thiel |
6 p.m. |
St. Louis, Mo. |
|
March 11 |
Sun. |
Fontbonne |
10 a.m. |
St. Louis, Mo. |
|
March 11 |
Sun. |
Lindenwood |
Noon |
St. Louis, Mo. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Carthage/MSOE Tournament |
|
|
|
March 16 |
Fri. |
Eastern Mennonite |
4 p.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
March 16 |
Fri. |
New York University |
8 p.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
March 17 |
Sat. |
Elmira |
Noon |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
March 17 |
Sat. |
Nazareth |
6 p.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
March 18 |
Sun. |
Juniata |
10 a.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 24 |
Sat. |
Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne |
7 p.m. |
Kenosha, Wis. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 28 |
Wed. |
St. Xavier |
7 p.m. |
Chicago, Ill. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CVC Weekend II |
|
|
|
March 31 |
Sat. |
*Fontbonne |
11 a.m. |
Milwaukee, Wis. |
|
March 31 |
Sat. |
*California-Santa Cruz |
5 p.m. |
Milwaukee, Wis. |
|
April 1 |
Sun. |
*Mount St. Joseph |
Noon |
Milwaukee, Wis. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
April 4 |
Wed. |
*Milwaukee School of Engineering |
7 p.m. |
Milwaukee, Wis. |
|
April 13-14 |
Fri-Sat. |
CVC Conference Tournament |
TBA |
Greenville, Pa. |
|
April 27-29 |
Fri-Sun. |
NCAA Division III championship |
TBA |
Springfield, Mass. |
*Midwest-III Volleyball Conference match
Times listed are Central Time, except as noted
Home matches in bold
Schedule Notes: The Jan. 28-30 Lees-McRae matches will be played at Grand Canyon University…the Feb. 19-20 Thiel and Fontbonne matches will be played at the College of Mount St. Joseph…the Feb. 25 New York University match will be played at NYU, and the remaining matches on that trip will be played at Baruch College.
Returnees
|
R/L |
Name |
Pos. |
Yr. |
MP |
Pct. |
Blocks |
Honors |
|
R |
Randy Hansen |
OH |
Sr. |
34 |
.310 |
0.67 |
AVCA second-team All-America |
|
R |
Connor Wexter |
S |
So. |
33 |
.381 |
0.44 |
AVCA second-team All-America, 11.88 assists |
|
R |
Matt Yanz |
MB |
Sr. |
27 |
.527 |
0.88 |
All-Midwest-III |
|
R |
Tyler Frings |
MB |
Sr. |
32 |
.323 |
1.30 |
All-Midwest-III |
|
R |
Mike Bynon |
L |
Sr. |
32 |
.143 |
N/A |
All-Midwest-III |
2011 Season Review
The Carthage College men’s volleyball team (23-11, 8-0 Midwest-III Volleyball Conference), tied for third place in the final, regular-season American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, won the consolation match of the last-ever Molten Championship in 2011, winning 3-0 over Baruch College (34-16) at Nazareth College’s Robert A. Kidera Gymnasium in Rochester, N.Y. The Red Men’s winning set scores over Bearcats were 25-19, 25-22 and 25-17.
Carthage opened play in the championship with a 3-2 loss to Nazareth (30-3) in the semifinals. The second-seeded Golden Flyers’ winning set scores over the third-seeded Red Men were 25-14, 18-25, 27-29, 28-26 and 15-11.
Carthage’s made its fourth appearance in the Molten Championship in 2011. Both the 2005 and 2007 Red Men teams finished second in the event, and the 2010 squad finished third at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. The Molten Championship came to an end after last year’s event, as the NCAA will launch a Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship in 2012.
Carthage outside hitter Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill., .310 attack percentage, 3.37 kills per set, 0.67 blocks per set) and setter Connor Wexter (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central, 11.08 assists per set) were named American Volleyball Coaches Association second-team All-America. Hansen was ranked 16th in NCAA Division III attack percentage and 23rd in kills. Wexter, who was also named AVCA NCAA Division III “Newcomer of the Year,” was second nationally in assists and carried a .381 attack percentage.
Carthage won the 2011 Midwest-III Volleyball Conference Tournament with a 3-0 win over Thiel College (10-20) in the championship match at Thiel’s Beeghly Gymnasium in Greenville, Pa. The Red Men’s winning set scores over the Tomcats were 25-19, 25-20 and 25-21. Carthage swept Fontbonne University (8-15), 3-0, in a semifinal match with winning scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-20.
Six Carthage players were named to the 2011 All-Midwest-III Volleyball Conference Team, including four first-team members. Randy Hansen was named first-team all-conference and the league’s “most valuable player.” Middle blocker Tyler Frings (Sr., Hubertus, Wis./Milwaukee-Pius XI, .323, 1.66 kills per set, NCAA Division III blocks leader at 1.30 blocks per set), middle blocker Tom O’Connell (graduated-senior, Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice, .265, 3.12 kills per set, 1.32 digs per, 0.63 blocks per set) and middle blocker Matt Yanz (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Naperville-Central, Carthage-record .527, 2.12 kills per set, 0.88 blocks per set) were also named first-team all-conference. Setter Connor Wexter was named second-team all-conference and “freshman of the year,” while outside hitter/libero Mike Bynon (Sr., Burnt Hills, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, 2.41 digs per set) was named second-team all-conference.
Springfield College has been selected to host the inaugural NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship in 2012 at Blake Arena in Springfield, Mass., and the Stevens Institute of Technology will host the 2013 championship at its Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. Both Springfield and Stevens hosted the Molten Championship three times since that tournament was formed in 1997 to give Division III men's volleyball sponsors a post-season experience.
Division III formally adopted the NCAA men's volleyball championship as the association's 89th championship at the 2011 convention. The NCAA has sponsored a National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship (all divisions) since 1970, but sponsorship of men's volleyball in Division III recently eclipsed the 50 institutions required for a single division to conduct its own championship.
The inaugural event will be a nine-team championship with a preliminary play-in match. The play-in match will be April 21, 2012 on the campus of the higher-seeded team. The three-day national championship will be April 27-29, 2012 starting with quarterfinal play. The championship-selection show will be April 15, 2012.
“There’s going to be a level of uncertainty this year,” says Carthage coach L.J. Marx. “We’re in a new conference, we’re going to have regional rankings like other NCAA sports and a national championship like the other NCAA sports. Our West region basically covers everything west of Pennsylvania and New York. In order for us to play in-region competition, we still have to travel all over the country. It’ll be trial and error this season, but at least now we’re on the same platform as every other sport. Win your conference tournament, and you go the NCAAs.”
Carthage will also have a new conference affiliation in 2012. All five member of the Midwest-III Volleyball Conference (Carthage, Fontbonne University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the College of Mount St. Joseph and Thiel College) will join five other schools to help form the Continental Volleyball Conference. The other five members are the University of California-Santa Cruz, Eastern Mennonite University, Juniata College, Philadelphia Biblical University and Stevenson University.
The new, 10-member league, which will have an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship, will be split into two divisions. The East Division will be comprised of Eastern Mennonite, Juniata, Philadelphia Biblical, Stevenson and Thiel. Carthage, Fontbonne, MSOE, Mount St. Joseph, and California-Santa Cruz will form the West Division. Each team will play divisional opponents twice and the top-two teams from each division advance to the conference tournament. “This league is probably going to be the toughest in the country,” says Marx. “With California-Santa Cruz, Carthage and Juniata, you have three incredibly-strong programs.”
2012 Season Outlook
Carthage returns 14-of-16 letterwinners and all six starters from last year’s team. Leading the returnees are AVCA All-Americans Randy Hansen and Connor Wexter, along with all-conference players Tyler Frings, Matt Yanz and Mike Bynon.
Also returning are right-side player Pat Barry (So., Skokie, Ill./Wilmette-Loyola Academy, 1.51 kills per set, .251 attack percentage,0.53 blocks per set), setter John Condon (Sr., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove), outside hitter Tyler Park (So., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg, 1.53 kills per set) and outside hitter Jim Schultz (So., Salem, Wis./Westosha Central, 2.01 kills per set).
Leading newcomers include setter Alexander Blackwell (Fr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley, All-Upstate 8 Conference and Naperville Sun all-area), outside hitter Matt Klingspohn (Fr., Glendale, Wis./Nicolet, Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association first-team all-state), outside hitter Matt Logue (Fr., Barrington, Ill., All-Mid-Suburban League and Daily Herald all-area), junior college transfer middle blocker Race Munger (So., Torrance, Calif./Rolling Hills Prep) and outside hitter Jon Storm (Fr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley, Chicago Sun-Times all-state).
“We have a large group of five seniors,” says Marx., “and that class has been through a long learning process. We have large and talented freshmen class again this year. With the need to travel for in-region matches and playing four or five times over the course of a weekend, that depth is going to be very, very helpful.”
The Red Men open the season on Jan. 17 at NCAA Division I Loyola University (Ill.). In addition to a pair of Continental Volleyball Conference weekend tournaments, other opponents include NCAA Division I members Ohio State University and Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne, Lindenwood University, Quincy University and St. Xavier University.
Carthage also plays in three tournaments: the Jan. 27-28 Nazareth College Tournament, the March 10-11 Fontbonne University Tournament and the March 16-18 Carthage/Milwaukee School of Engineering Tournament.
“We’ve improved every year,” points out Marx, “particularly at the national level, and hopefully, we can make the next step in 2012. We think we’re going to be a top-10 program all year, and we think we’ll be in the NCAA mix at the end. I’ve told our team that the only thing that can stop us from achieving our goals this season is us. We have the talent and the experience, and there’s really no missing piece this year. Everything is here—we just have to go do it.”