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April 16, 2010
UC Santa Cruz Wins Molten Opener

KENOSHA, WI —The 2010 Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship got underway Friday evening as top-seeded UC Santa Cruz (15-6) defeated fourth-seeded Nazareth (19-15) 30-25, 30-27, 30-25 in the first semifinal played at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis.

Third-seed Carthage (20-11) takes on second-seeded Springfield College (17-10) at 8 p.m. Friday evening in the other semifinal contest.

Nazareth, playing in its first-ever Molten event, will play the Carthage-Springfield loser in the Saturday consolation match at 5 p.m. CDT, with UC Santa Cruz playing the Carthage-Springfield winner at 8 p.m. in the championship match. UC Santa Cruz is making its fifth appearance in the Molten event, which included a second-place finish in 2006.

UC Santa Cruz broke a 4-4 tie in the first set and never trailed. Nazareth was behind by only a point at 15-14 before the Banana Slugs used an 8-2 run to go up 23-16. UC Santa Cruz went on to win by five, 30-25.

In the second set, the Golden Flyers had leads of 24-21 and 25-24 slip away. UC Santa Cruz tied things up at 25-25 before taking the lead to stay at 26-25 on the strength of a 5-1 scoring run. The Banana Slugs went on to win by three, 30-27.

In the third and final set, Nazareth had an early 10-9 lead and the set was tied at 22-22. The Banana Slugs took the lead at 23-22 and went on to win 30-25.

American Volleyball Coaches Association First-Team All-American Justin Lam led UC Santa Cruz with 17 kills and hit. 464 (17-4-28). Eric Rowell had 11 kills and hit .250 (11-4-28) with three block assists, while AVCA second-team All-American Salvatore La Cavera had 10 kills and hit .444 (10-2-18).

Hans Schroeder topped Nazareth with 10 kills and a .292 attack percentage (10-3-24), while Ellis Walsh had nine kills and hit .400 (9-1-20).

Now in its 14th year, the Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship was formed due to a need for a culminating event for NCAA Division III men’s volleyball. While the NCAA sponsors a national championship for men’s volleyball, programs from all three divisions compete for just four berths in the yearly tournament. In the 40-year history of the NCAA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship, no Division III program has earned a berth or been selected to participate in the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship.

-Bill Kauffman, usavolleyball.org