MILWAUKEE – It took almost two and a half hours. It's an event nearly nine years in the making. It was an incredible match to take in. With a Ben Pung kill the Raiders won for the first time in program history against No. 5 Carthage, a match that they had to come back from an 0-2 deficit.

RESULTS
No. 5 Carthage – 2 (25, 25, 22, 28, 20)
(RV) MSOE – 3 (13, 23, 25, 30, 22)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Things definitely did not start out according to plan for (RV) MSOE (2-0, 0-0 NACC) in tonight's contest. No. 5 Carthage (2-1, 0-0 CCIW) was in full control in the opening set, winning easily by the score of 25-13 behind a hitting percentage of .421. The Red Men hit even better in the second, attacking at a .500 clip. The Raiders were much more competitive, but let CU go on a late run that put them down by two with the 25-23 loss. With their backs against the wall, the Red & White had to turn things around quickly and with zero margin for error. The comeback started with a 25-22 win in the third, but that hardly sealed the deal. MSOE would have to win two more sets against a team that is perennially in the top 15 in the nation. Each team hit over .300, but it was the Raiders who register 20 kills in the fourth frame. The set went well into extra points, but two straight kills from Ben Pung moved the match to the fifth set tiebreak. Jake Christensen would serve up an ace for the first point of the fifth to give the Raiders that slight serve advantage. It was a back and forth affair after Carthage went on a 3-0 run to tie the set at 7-7, with neither team holding a two-point lead up until the very end. The fifth was also destined for extra tallies and saw the Raiders survive several Carthage match points. After a Red Men service error gave the Red & White the ball back at 20-20, Spencer Mueller and Pung slammed home two of the biggest kills of their career to win the match and defeat Carthage for the first time in 19 tries.

RAIDER REMARKS
Let's take a look at the three single match records that were broken or entered tonight:

• Ben Pung set the record for kills in a match (36)
• Ben Pung set record for most points in a match (37.0)
• Danny Martens had the third most digs in a match (23)

MSOE STAT TRACKER
Kills – Ben Pung (36)
Digs – Danny Martens (23)
Assists – Kalvin Fellows (50)
Aces – Jake Christensen (2)
Blocks – Matthew Binkus (1 solo, 2 assists)

WHO'S ON DECK
After beating back to back No. 5 teams, the Raiders will close out a span of three games in one week when they take on North Central on Friday night. First serve is set for 8:00 pm from Hotchkin Arena.

For up-to-the-minute MSOE Raiders news, visit us at www.go-raiders.com. You can also follow the Red & White on Twitter @MSOE_Raiders and @msoe_raiders on Instagram.