Huntingdon, Pa. – No way they make it happen three days in a row against top-15 teams, right? WAY.

Dominating from nearly the first serve on, the Wittenberg Tigers swept Messiah and inked their reservation for next weekend's national semfinals at Springfield College in Massachusetts. No MCVL team had won a match in the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship prior to this weekend. Ironically, the Tigers now look at their next match against the team that made the MCVL's first appearance in the national tournament. Carthage, which was a member of the league from 2015-19, did not lose a set in its two regional matches against Dominican (Ill.) and Southern Virginia. It will be the Firebirds, CCIW champs, and the Tigers in the second semifinal match this Thursday (4/23) at 7:30p ET. The host Springfield Pride, ranked No. 1 in Division III, will take on Cal Lutheran in the first semifinal at 5:00p. 

Tonight, set one was tied at 20 when Zach Newton came to the rescue with a pair of kills around a Messiah attack error. At 23-21, Michael Yurk's kill made it 24-21. After a Witt service error, the set-winning point came off the swing of Patterson Reed. There was far less drama in the next two sets. Another Yurk kill made it 20-12 in set two as Witt won rather easily, 25-18. Similarly in set three, Witt took control at 20-13. Three of the next four Tiger points came on kills by Reese Monnin, Newton and Harrison Mitchell. Yurk then soared from the service line and registered his team's only ace of the match, triggering the most joyous celebration of the weekend ... and that's saying something.

Yurk was named the regional's Most Valuable Player, totaling 29 kills with seven of them tonight (.429 hitting percentage v. Messiah). Monnin was named to the all-tournament team with nine kills tonight (.600 hitting percentage) and 14 yesterday. Newton also earned all-tournament with his team-high 10 kills tonight (.562 hitting percentage).

Link to Wittenberg's match summary on WittenbergTigers.com 

MCVL NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

2026 > Wittenberg 3, Wentworth 1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-20) First Round

             Wittenberg 3, Juniata 2 (25-20, 17-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-13) Second Round

             Wittenberg 3, Messiah 0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-19) Quarterfinals

2025 > Springfield 3, Mount Union 2 (25-18, 22-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-12) First Round

2024 > Loras 3, Trine 2 (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 20-25, 14-16) First Round

2023 > Juniata 3, Baldwin Wallace 0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-18) First Round

2022 > Carthage 3, Mount Union 0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-20) First Round

2021 > Messiah 3, Fontbonne 2 * (24-26, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 15-11) First Round

2020 > No NCAA championship (COVID-19)

2019 > UC Santa Cruz 3, Fontbonne 2 * (26-24, 25-21, 24-26, 20-25, 15-6) First Round

2018 > Dominican, IL 3, Carthage 1 * (14-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-23) First Round (Quarterfinals)

2017 > Stevens 3, Dominican, IL 1 * (25-21, 25-17, 26-28, 25-23) First Round (Quarterfinals)

2016 > Stevenson 3, Carthage 1 * (25-21, 29-27, 25-27, 25-18) First Round (Quarterfinals)

2015 > No qualifier

* No longer member of league