Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

DAVENPORT, Iowa – Augustana crossed the Mississippi River for a pair of matches Saturday afternoon and came away with a split. The Vikings defeated Illinois Tech in five sets—avenging a loss to the Scarlet Hawks earlier in the season—before falling in four games to host St. Ambrose at Lee Lohman Arena. Dangerous travel conditions kept Graceland University from making the trip from Lamoni, Iowa and canceled Augustana's scheduled match with the Yellowjackets.
 
Coach Mark Lau's club is now 5-10 on the season and will be back in action on Thursday, March 1 versus Judson University in Elgin, Illinois.
 
AUGUSTANA 3, ILLINOIS TECH 2 (26-24; 25-21; 17-25; 16-25; 15-11)
 
Illinois Tech rallied from down 2-0 to force a fifth set in Augustana's first match of the day.
 
After dropping sets three and four by substantial margins, the Vikings righted the ship quickly in the final game, jumping in front 5-1 behind kills from freshmen Dylan Baum (Warrensburg-Latham HS, Decatur, Ill.) and Joshua Richardson (Homewood-Flossmoor HS, Hazel Crest, Ill.) and a combined block by Richardson and classmate Jason Szara (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort, Ill.). The Scarlet Hawks got as close as two points (8-6) on a kill by Lukasz Kupiec, but an IIT service error and a Szara kill gave Augustana some breathing room and the Vikings closed things out, with Baum's 11th kill providing match point.
 
Game one was tight the whole way, with Lau's bunch eventually claiming the last three points—on a Justin Murphy (Glenbard East HS, Lombard, Ill.) kill, an Andrew Housholder (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville, Ill.) block and an Illinois Tech attack error—to win 26-24.
 
The Vikings led almost the entire way in winning game two 25-21, getting set-point when Szara and freshman Ryan Hirschel (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) teamed up on a block.
 
The Scarlet Hawks roared back to take games three and four by margins of 25-17 and 25-16, respectively. The only lead Augustana managed in either set was 1-0 when Hirschel opened game four with a service ace.
 
Szara finished with a team-best 16 kills, followed by Baum's 11. Hirschel had 33 assists and four aces. Defensively, freshman Matthew Schiferl (Wheeling HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) had a match-high 14 digs, with Hirschel and Baum contributing nine and eight, respectively. Richardson and Szara were in on four blocks each.
 
Cinjun Coe had a match-best 28 kills for IIT (7-10).
 
ST. AMBROSE 3, AUGUSTANA 1 (25-18; 25-14; 25-27; 25-19)
 
Scott MacGillis had 14 kills to lead the host Bees to a four-set victory in the Vikings' second match of the day.
 
After dropping the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-14, Augustana rallied from a 16-9 deficit to claim game three 27-25. Richardson sparked the Viking comeback with a kill and an ace and Murphy kept it going with three kills in a span of four points. They finally pulled even at 24-all and got a Baum kill and a bad set by St. Ambrose to close out the game.
 
The Bees (13-4) broke open a tight game four by claiming seven of the last eight points to win 25-19.
 
Murphy led the Vikings with 13 kills. Hirschel distributed 25 assists with Baum contributing a pair of aces. Schiferl had 10 digs and Hirschel and freshman Brett Kliegl (Neuqua Valley HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) seven apiece. Richardson had three blocks.
 
Jaylen Clark added 10 kills to MacGillis' 14. Austin Royer led SAU with 26 assists and Riley Anderson with 14 digs.