The College of DuPage men’s volleyball team enjoyed their home-court advantage against Bryant & Stratton College on March 1. Although the lead was constantly changing, the Chaparrals overpowered the Bobcats to win the first set. Bryant & Stratton reminded COD of their scrappiness and took the second set, tying the match 1-1. The conference rivals continued exchanging blows as the Chaps took the third set and the Bobcats captured the fourth.

The fifth set looked like the end for COD as Bryant & Stratton kept control through the tie-breaking final. The team veterans willed the Chaps back into the match after sophomore left side Erik Perez killed the Bobcats’ momentum with an out-of-bounds receive and eventual kill, preventing their three-point lead extension. Sophomore outside hitter Blake Huberty served COD’s way into the lead, pushing the team into victory and beating Bryant & Stratton 3-2. The final scores for the sets were 25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 23-25 and 15-13, and the Chaps raised their record to 5-9.

“[Perez] was sitting patient and being a great teammate for most of that match,” head coach Tolis Koskinaris said. “Erik’s always good at just waiting his turn. He knows how to come in sometimes in tight spots because we’ve done it to him so many times over the last two seasons. He came in when I really thought was critical to that fifth set. That was a big lift for us.”

Huberty stayed on top of the team leaderboard in kills for the second consecutive match with 13 on 44 attacks with seven errors. He landed one service ace to help the Chaps capture the lead during the fifth set, but he also made four service errors. Additionally, Huberty led the attackers with 14 digs and made one set assist. He described his mindset while he was serving during the fifth set.

“‘Ace every time,’” Huberty said. “Every time I went up, I thought, ‘I’ve got to serve this ball as hard as I can,’ and try to do what I can. My job at the end of the day is just to get them out of the system and, hopefully, we get a good attack coming through.”

Freshman outside hitter Sam Molitor tied with Huberty in kills (13) on 34 attacks with six errors. Molitor also made eight digs, one block assist and one set assist. He described the Bobcats as a tenacious team, but he said the Chaps had the skill to finish them off.

“We scrapped a lot harder,” Molitor said. “[Bryant & Stratton] is a scrappy team, and we needed to match that in order to win. Our defense was on point. Our serving was great. I think we did everything right.”

Freshman outside hitter Osiel Cruz shot down 12 kills on 32 attacks with six errors. In addition, Cruz scored on one service ace, put up two set assists and helped COD’s defensive game with 10 digs, one solo block and one block assist. He explained how training in practices has helped the team play strenuously for longer stretches.

“We’ve been running hills lately,” Cruz said. “Our conditioning helped us a lot because we pushed through the whole game. [We were] playing strong, swinging deep, swinging hard and keeping up with everything. We’re definitely getting there, but we’re not complete yet. We can still push more.”

Sophomore setter Phurin Kosumapinun led the team with 23 set assists. Kosumapinun also picked up 16 digs. He said this win against COD’s conference rivals has him looking toward the national tournament in April.

“I know what’s coming in the next few months,” Kosumapinun said. “This shows how much the team has been working. We’ve been trying to get our mental fortitude up and just play our own game. This is the result of that. We took our rivals to a fifth set again, and we took it this time. I’m on top of the world and happy, but I’m focusing on the next big step.”

Freshman middle hitter Justus Barbel spiked 11 kills on 22 attacks with four errors. He scored on one service ace but made four service errors. Defensively, he recorded 10 digs and one block assist. He said this win proved that the team is making strides toward consistency.

“We’re just building,” Barbel said. “This is the momentum that we’ve been talking about. We’ve been waiting, trusting the process and pushing forward. It’s showing, and we can only go up now.”

Koskinaris described what challenges COD will face against their next opponents.

“We have a really tough match coming up against North Central,” he said. “[They’re] a perennial, top 10 DIII program. It’s going to be against their second-string guys, but they’re still going to be very high-level players. Hopefully, we can come into that one with the right mindset and see if we can take a set or two.”

The Chaparrals battle the North Central College junior varsity Cardinals at 6 p.m. on March 5 in Naperville, Ill.