Contact:
Steve Marovich, Sports Information Director (262) 551-5740
E-Mail: stevemarovich@tds.net or carthagesid@carthage.edu
Carthage Web Page: http://athletics.carthage.edu/index.aspx
Carthage 24-Hour Sports Hotline (262) 551-5388
Men’s Volleyball Knocks Off Top-Ranked Nazareth on Jan. 27;
Randy Hansen Named AVCA “Player of the Week”
This Week: The Carthage College men’s volleyball team (4-1, 0-0 Continental Volleyball Conference), ranked first in the Jan. 31 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, plays host to Quincy University (10-0) on Friday, Feb. 3 in a 7 p.m. match at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.
Last Week: Carthage won the Nazareth College “Golden Flyer Invitational” on Saturday, Jan. 28 with a 3-2 win over Juniata College (7-3) at the Robert A. Kidera Gymnasium in Rochester, N.Y. The Red Men’s winning set scores over the Eagles were 19-25, 25-16, 25-22, 19-25 and 15-11. Carthage wrapped up its pool-play schedule, also on Saturday, Jan. 28 with a 3-0 sweep of No. 14 Philadelphia Biblical College (0-5) The Red Men’s winning set scores over the Crimson Eagles were 25-14, 25-14 and 25-20.
Carthage won a pair of matches on Friday, Jan. 27, including a 3-1 win over the No. 1 Golden Flyers (1-1). Carthage opened tournament play with a 3-0 sweep of Southern Vermont College (0-1). The Red Men’s winning set scores over Mountaineers were 25-16, 25-14 and 25-16. Carthage’s winning scores over top-ranked Nazareth (1-1) were 25-22, 25-18, 20-25 and 25-17.
Next Week: Carthage plays host to St. Xavier University on Saturday, Feb. 11 in a 1 p.m. match at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. On Sunday, Feb. 12 the Red Men entertain Lindenwood University in a p.m. contest, also at Tarble Arena.
AVCA/CVC Player of the Week: Carthage College outside hitter Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill.) was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III “Player of the Week” and the Continental Volleyball Conference “Player of the Week” on Jan. 31. Hansen averaged 5.27 kills per set with a .436 attack percentage, as the No. 3 Red Men swept the Jan. 27-28 Nazareth College “Golden Flyers Invitational” at the Robert A. Kidera Gymnasium in Rochester, N.Y. In Carthage’s second match of the tournament, the Red Men defeated top-ranked Nazareth, 3-1. Carthage also won contests over No. 5 Juniata, No. 14 Philadelphia Biblical and unranked Southern Vermont.
In the win over Southern Vermont, Hansen led the Red Men with 16 kills and a .700 attack percentage (16-2-20). Hansen’s .700 attack percentage broke a school record for 20 or more attempts. In the victory over Nazareth, Hansen collected 23 kills and hit .310. He tied his own match record of 23 kills in four sets. In the title-match win over Juniata, Hansen collected 27 kills and hit .404 with a block solo and three block assists.
Looking at Quincy: Hadley Foster (64-65, 4 years thru Feb. 3) coaches the Quincy University Hawks, who went 22-14 last year (3-9, 6th Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association). This year’s team brings a perfect 10-0 mark into Friday’s Carthage match after defeating the Milwaukee School of Engineering, 3-1, on Thursday in Milwaukee. Quincy leads the Carthage series, 7-3, with the Hawks winning last year’s contest, 3-1, on Feb. 13, 2011 at Pepsi Arena.
The Polls: Carthage College (4-1, 13 first-place votes) was ranked first in the Jan. 31 American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, followed by Springfield College (2-4, 3 first-place votes) second, the University of California-Santa Cruz (2-1) third, Juniata College (7-3) fourth, Nazareth College (2-2) fifth, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (4-1) sixth, Rivier College (1-1) seventh, New York University (1-2) eighth, the Stevens Institute of Technology (0-0) ninth, Medaille College (3-1) 10th, Vassar College (2-1) 11th, Baruch College (2-2) 12th, Emmanuel College (0-0) 13th, Ramapo College (4-0) 14th and the State University of New York-New Paltz (4-1) ranked 15th.
Looking at Quincy: Hadley Foster (54-65, 3 years entering the season) coaches the Quincy University Hawks, who went 22-14 last year (3-9, 6th Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association). This year’s team takes a perfect 9-0 mark into a Thursday, Feb. 2 match at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Quincy leads the Carthage series, 7-3, with the Hawks winning last year’s contest, 3-1, on Feb. 13, 2011 at Pepsi Arena.
The Coach: L.J. Marx is in his eighth year as head coach in 2012 (128-94, 8 years thru Jan. 29) after coaching the Carthage men’s club volleyball squad for both the 2003 and 2004 seasons (43-18, 2 years at the club level). Marx was named American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III Men’s Coach of the Year in both 2005 and 2007. With the Carthage club team, Marx coached six National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association All-Americans and four All-Wisconsin Volleyball Conference honorees.
New Conference Affiliation for 2012: Carthage will 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.
Red Men Picked to Win the First CVC Title: The Continental Volleyball Conference coaches picked Carthage College to win the inaugural CVC title in 2012. The Red Men received seven-of-10 first-place votes in the poll. Juniata College, with three first-place votes, was second, followed by California-Santa Cruz third, Thiel College fourth, the Milwaukee School of Engineering fifth, Stevenson University sixth, Philadelphia Biblical University seventh, Eastern Mennonite University eighth, Fontbonne University ninth and the College of Mount St. Joseph slated 10th.
NCAA Selects Springfield and the Stevens Institute as the First Two Division III Championship Sites: 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.
2011 Molten Championship: Carthage (23-11, 8-0 Midwest-III Volleyball Conference), tied for fourth place in the final, regular-season American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, won the consolation match of the final Molten Championship in 2011, 3-0, over No. 6 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 No. 1 Nazareth College (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. Top-seeded Springfield (16-13), tied with Nazareth for first place in AVCA national poll, defeated fourth-seeded and No. 6 Baruch College (34-15), 3-1, in the other semifinal contest with winning scores of 25-20, 25-20, 22-25 and 25-17. Nazareth (31-3) defeated defending-champion Springfield (16-14), 3-1, for the title with winning set scores of 25-23, 22-25, 25-23 and 25-22.
This was Carthage’s fourth appearance in the Molten Championship. 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 the 2011 event, as the NCAA will launch a Division III Men’s Volleyball Championship in 2012. Carthage tied for third place in the final AVCA NCAA Division III poll.
Randy Hansen and Connor Wexter Named AVCA All-America: 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.
2011 M-III Conference Tournament: Carthage won the final Midwest-III Volleyball Conference Tournament in 2011 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. Earlier on Saturday, Carthage swept Fontbonne University (8-15), 3-0, in a semifinal match with winning scores of 25-12, 25-16 and 25-20. The tournament got underway on Friday, April 1 with third-seeded Thiel College (10-19) upsetting second-seeded the Milwaukee School of Engineering (11-17), 3-1, with winning set scores of 26-28, 25-17, 25-20 and 26-24. Fourth-seeded Fontbonne University (8-14) swept fifth-seeded the College of Mount St. Joseph (1-16), 3-0, with winning scores of 25-16, 25-20 and 25-23 in the other first-round contest.
M-III All-Conference Picks: Six Carthage players were named to the 2011 All-Midwest-III Volleyball Conference Team, including four first-team members. Outside hitter Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill., .310 attack percentage, 3.37 kills per set, 1.75 digs per set, 0.67 blocks per set) 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, 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, .527, 2.12 kills per set, 0.88 blocks per set) were also named first-team all-conference. Setter Connor Wexter (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central, .390, 11.08 assists per set, 1.17 digs per set) 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.
Live Video/Live Stats: All Carthage volleyball matches at Tarble Arena feature live video steaming. A page of links to each event is available at http://live.carthage.edu. The live video streams are at http://www.carthage.edu/library/webcast/webcasting-stream-2/. For now, virtually all of the streams are also featured at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/carthage-athletics Live stats are available for all home matches at http://dakfiles.daktronics.com/downloads/DakStats/Webcast/CarthageCollege/Carthage_VB_LiveStats.html
Jan. 27-28 Nazareth Invitational Notes: In the win over Philadelphia Biblical, Carthage’s Randy Hansen (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill.) collected a match-high 13 kills with a .500 attack percentage (13-1-24), along with two block solos. Pat Barry (So., Skokie, Ill./Wilmette-Loyola Academy) had eight kills and hit .357 with a pair of block assists. Setter Connor Wexter (So., New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) averaged 10.67 assists per set.
In the win over Southern Vermont, Hansen led the Red Men with 16 kills and a .700 attack percentage (16-2-20). Hansen’s .700 attack percentage broke a school record for 20 or more attempts. The previous mark of .667 (20-2-27) was set by Tim Walker versus the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Jan. 26, 2008. Matt Yanz (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Naperville-Central) had six kills and hit .714, while Pat Barry also had six kills with a .600 mark.
In the victory over Nazareth, Hansen collected 23 kills and hit .310. He tied his own match record of 23 kills in four sets first set against Clarke University on Feb. 24, 2010 and equaled versus Emmanuel College on March 7, 2010. Jon Storm (Fr., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) added 12 kills with a .348 attack percentage. Setter Connor Wexter averaged 10.50 assists per set.
In the title-match win over Juniata, Hansen collected 27 kills and hit .404 with a block solo and three block assists. Storm had 11 kills, and Tyler Frings (Sr., Hubertus, Wis./Milwaukee-Pius XI) added nine kills with a .235 attack percentage, three block solos and four block assists.