Springfield, Mass. – Carthage College, which has won two of the last six NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championships, was too much for the upstart Wittenberg Tigers tonight in the 2026 DIII tournament semifinals. The Firebirds continued their impressive run through this year's championship with another sweep, keeping intact their perfect set record. The 3-0 result ended a words-can't-describe season for the MCVL champs, who finish at 24-6 overall with historic implications for the league.
Trailing by just two in tonight's first set, 14-12, Carthage went on a 7-1 run that pretty much decided the outcome. The Tigers tried to put the 25-16 result in the rearview and were very much in set two, down 18-16. That's when the Firebirds pulled away with a 5-2 streak, eventually winning the set 25-18. Set three was not as close as the first two as Carthage went out to leads of 10-5 and 20-12 on its way to a 25-19 victory. Carthage faces host-Springfield in Saturday night's DIII final.
Michael Yurk and Eli Halverson were very good again tonight. Yurk led the team with 10 kills (.429 hitting percentage) with Halverson just behind at eight kills (.412). There just wasn't a lot of support elsewhere as the next-highest kills total was Zach Newton's four. Witt hit at a .263 clip for the match, but Carthage sizzled at .488. The Firebirds were tough from the service line, totaling seven aces for the match.
Wittenberg's three NCAA tournament wins were the first in the history of the MCVL. Yurk was the MVP at last weekend's Juniata regional, while Halverson and Reese Monnin were both chosen to the all-tournament team. Harrison Mitchell was the MVP of the MCVL tournament with Halverson and Jake Downs also on the all-tournament team. Halverson was named to the All-MCVL first team for the regular season. Monnin and Yurk were voted to the second team, and Newton earned honorable mention.
Witt shared the regular-season MCVL championship and is one of the few teams to win both the regular-season and tournament trophies in the same season. Neither was easy as Trine tied for the regular-season title and Calvin took the Tigers to five sets in the tournament's championship match. Witt head coach Jamie Peterson was essentially a rookie head coach (took over mid-season in 2025) and this past week was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association's national Coach of the Year in Division III.
The Tigers' performance shows the MCVL's continued upward trajectory in Division III. In 2025, Mount Union lost a tough five-set match to Springfield in the NCAA tournament. Trine took Loras to five sets in the 2024 first round. But there's nothing like winning, and Wittenberg's excellence in 2026 will be remembered for a very long time. Look for the first league match of 2027 in late February, with Franklin College as the MCVL's 11th member.
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
Carthage 3, Wittenberg 0 (16-25, 18-25, 19-25) Semifinals
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