Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CHICAGO, Ill. – Coach Kelly Bethke's Augustana volleyball squad achieved its 19th and 20th wins of the season Friday, defeating North Park in a CCIW tilt and St. Mary's (Indiana) in a non-conference contest. Both matches were held at the Helwig Center on the campus of North Park.  The Vikings are now 20-8 on the year.
 
AUGUSTANA 3, NORTH PARK 0 (25-16; 25-16; 25-15)
 
Augustana dominated all three sets in moving to 3-3 in the CCIW with a win over North Park. The visitors never trailed in the first two sets, with the only ties coming at one-all and two-all in the opening set.
 
Augustana won the next four points after that 2-2 tie in the first set and went on to a 25-16 win. Dory Dudley's (Tremont HS, Tremont, Ill.) kill off a Hannah Lindaman (North Scott HS, Eldridge, Ill.) assist finished things off. Bethke's Vikings opened the second set with a Martha Murray (Evanston HS, Evanston, Ill.) kill and an Emily Leazer (St. Viator HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) service ace and led start to finish in another 25-16 win. Set point came on a North Park attack error.
 
Two Hayley Brake kills and an Abigail McKowen ace got the hosts off to a 3-0 lead in the third. However, Augustana quickly righted things, winning five straight points, two of which came on kills by Nicole Morrissey (Lake Zurich HS, Lake Zurich, Ill.). North Park rallied to forge ties at 9-9 and 10-10, but consecutive kills by Hailee Brayton (St. Bede Academy, La Salle, Ill.), Morrissey and Leazer put the visitors ahead for good. A Murray kill provided match point as Augustana took the set 25-15.
 
Brayton had a team-high 10 kills and just one attack error in 15 attempts for a crisp .600 hitting percentage in the match. Murray added eight kills and Morrissey a half dozen. Bethke's combo of setters, Lindaman and Jordan Hampel (Hilliard Davidson HS, Hilliard, Ohio), recorded 13 and 14 assists, respectively. Lindaman, Leazer and Murray each had a pair of service aces.  Defensively, Leazer had a team-high 10 digs, with Kylie Siebert (Kaneland HS, Sugar Grove, Ill.) and Murray contributing eight apiece. Leazer and Jacqueline Kibir-Evans (Trinity HS, Forest Park, Ill.) each recorded a solo block.
 
North Park fell to 8-19 overall and 0-6 in the CCIW.
 
AUGUSTANA 3, ST. MARY'S 1 (21-25; 25-19; 25-21; 25-15)
 
In the day's second match, Augustana picked up its 20th win of the season with a four-set win over St. Mary's.
 
The Vikings led early in set one, but St. Mary's came back to tie it at 12-all on a Katie Schneider service ace. Melanie Kuczek's kill eventually finished off a 6-0 run and gave the Belles a 15-12 lead. Augustana managed a 17-all tie, but St. Mary's won the next four points and went on to a 25-21 win.
 
A pair of Brayton kills got Augustana off to another good start in the second set, as the Vikings took a 5-1 lead. The Bells came back to take their only lead at 6-5 on a Kuczek kill. A final tie occurred at 10-10 before another kill by Brayton gave the Vikings the lead for good. Set point in a 25-19 Augustana win came on a Murray kill.
 
With Hampel serving to start the third, the Vikings won the first seven points. The junior setter delivered three aces in the run. However, the Belles battled back to narrow the Augustana lead to two at 20-18, 21-19 and 23-21 before kills by Leazer and Kibir-Evans—both on sets from Hampel—closed out a 25-21 victory.
 
The fourth set was a nip-and-tuck affair early. Only once did either team manage a lead of more than two points until the Vikings won five straight—two of which came on Lindaman service aces—to go up 19-13. A pair of Murray kills closed out a 25-15 Augustana win.
 
Leazer, Murray and Kibir-Evans each delivered 10 kills for the Vikings. Lindaman and Hampel had identical totals of 17 assists and five service aces each. Leazer and Siebert, with 16 and 15 digs respectively, led the way defensively, along with Dudley, who was in on three blocks.
 
St. Mary's dropped to 13-12 on the season.