North Greenville stuns Princeton for ConfCarolinas first win in NCAA Tournament

What’s a little overtime when every ConfCarolinas school has waited eight years for this moment.

North Greenville became the first ConfCarolinas team to ever win a NCAA Tournament match as it out-lasted Princeton in the longest overtime game in NCAA Tournament history to complete the sweep 25-21, 25-18, 40-38 on Sunday in Los Angeles.

The Crusaders fought off five game–points in the 40-point third-game overtime before benefiting from back-to-back Tigers errors to win the opening round match. In addition, the ConfCarolinas champions North Greenville was able to force overtime after rallying from an 18-11 deficit.

Freshman middle attacker Michael de la Cruz had a team-high six kills in the third game, including three kills in the overtime.

de la Cruz, a finalist with the Division II National Player of the Year, finished with 10 kills on a .529 attack percentage and was one of two Crusaders with double-digit kills. Freshman opposite Gregory Torres had a match-high 19 kills on a .314 attack percentage highlighted with nine kills in the second-game win.

Setter Sergio Carrillo had 37 assists and guided the North Greenville offense to out-hit Princeton .333 to .175. The Crusaders had a match-best .452 attack percentage in their opening game win and finished the match with 12 attack errors – 14 fewer errors than the Tigers.

Carrillo and de la Cruz each led North Greenville with three aces.

Princeton middle attacker Nyherowo Omene also had three aces, which all occurred during a 5-0 run early in the third game.

Opposite James Hartley had a game-high nine kills in the third game and ended the match leading Princeton with 19 kills on a .306 attack percentage. Hartley, though, was the only Princeton player to have more than five kills and hit more than .200.

Outside attacker Ben Harrington added 10 kills in the loss.

North Greenville with this victory will advance to play Hawai’i in the next round of the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday.

ConfCarolinas schools entered this match were 0-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and were 1-18 all-time NCAA Tournament sets.