Elgin, IL - On Friday, the inaugural NCCAA Men's Volleyball National Championship kicked off inside of the Lindner Fitness Center. Judson University was selected as the host site by the NCCAA committee for the first championship tournament in the sport of men's volleyball. 

The Eagles began the event in the first match of the day when they took on Oakland City. This was a rematch of a match held earlier this season that saw Judson take home the victory. 

Judson got off to a fast start in the first match, and really controlled the pace throughout. 

Mason Snodgrass had a great match with 16 kills to lead JU. He accounted for 16 of the 40 team kills in the match. Reece Thompson added 8 kills. 

Elijah Wrobel had 34 assists in the match for Judson. He also had three of the team's six service aces. 

In a ceremony banquet held Thursday night, Wrobel was awarded the NCCAA's GP4L (Game Plan 4 Life) Most Outstanding Player Award; the first ever winner of the award for Men's Volleyball. It has been an incredible career for Wrobel in an Eagles' uniform. 

The Eagles would win the match over the Mighty Oaks in a clean sweep, 25-21, 25-18, 25-22 to go to 1-0 in pool play action. Elijah Gregg had the game winning kill to secure the sweep. 

Judson would return for the forth and final match of the day taking on the Jessup University Warriors. Both teams would enter the match 1-0, winning their first pool play match. 

There it was the Warriors controlling things early on winning set one 25-19. Set two saw both teams make multiple point runs in a well played game by both teams. 

It was Snodgrass again leading things for the Eagles with three service aces, including back-to-back ones in the second set. He again led JU in kills with 12. 

With the teams going back and forth holding the lead, set two saw a bit of history as Elijah Wrobel recorded his 4,000 career assists. He is now one of just three players in NAIA history to reach that feat. 

However, it would be Jessup to close on a 5-2 run to win the set. 

In the third set, both teams had a 7-3 run to put things notted at 10 a side. 

For the game, Wrobel had 28 more assists, and led the team with 7 digs. 

Jessup would again get a late rally to close things out for the sweep 25-19, 25-22, 25-21. Jessup would conclude the day 2-0 in pool play. The Eagles are 1-1. 

On Saturday, the final two pool play games will be held before the National Championship Match takes place at 5 pm local time. The two best records in pool play will be the teams that compete for the crown. 

Judson's final pool play match will be at 1pm versus Roberts Wesleyan University.