McLean County Times

The Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team faced a setback against North Central College on Wednesday night, April 3, in Naperville, Illinois. The Titans lost in straight sets to the 19th-ranked Cardinals, dropping their overall record to 10-14 and their conference record to 1-8. North Central improved its standing to 14-8 overall and 4-5 in league play.

Senior Michael Eastman led the Titans' offense with 11 kills. Freshman Bryce Williams contributed seven kills, while senior Julian Perez added four. Senior Bradley Benson and freshman Brenden Reutter each recorded 13 assists for Illinois Wesleyan. Eastman also achieved two aces during the match.

Defensively, sophomore Jace Milka led the team with nine digs. Eastman followed with seven digs, and Reutter had five. At the net, senior Javier Romano and junior Jake Kougan both posted four blocks.

The match began with North Central taking an early lead at 3-0 before Perez scored the first point for the Titans with a set from Reutter. Eastman's ace narrowed the gap further. The teams remained close until North Central pulled ahead with a run of five consecutive points to win the first set 25-16.

In the second set, Benson assisted Romano for a kill that started a strong phase for Illinois Wesleyan, resulting in a temporary lead of 9-7 after forcing North Central into a timeout. Despite holding control for much of this set and leading by five points at one stage (19-14), IWU ultimately fell short again as NCC took it 26-24.

During the third set, Kougan tied up early scores but NCC managed to regain control despite efforts from Eastman including another ace which briefly leveled scores at twelve apiece; however they could not maintain momentum losing out finally by scoreline margin at conclusion: twenty-five versus twenty – marking end game scenario outcome decisively favoring hosts throughout encounter sequence played out within designated competitive framework conditions met under tournament rules applied accordingly throughout fixture proceedings conducted therein without interruption or delay encountered operationally nor administratively affecting results derived henceforth recorded officially post-event culmination witnessed respectively acknowledged universally among participants present witnessing occasion directly involved interactively engaged competitively speaking objectively reported accurately herein disclosed impartially described factually documented comprehensively presented transparently 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