CINCINNATI, Ohio – Mount St. Joseph rallied from a first-set defeat Friday to take three straight from Augustana at the Harrington Center. The victory, in a key Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League match, moved the Lions to 9-16 overall and 5-3 and tied for fourth in the conference. The Vikings fell to 11-15 overall and 4-4 in league play and were eliminated from contention for an MCVL Tournament berth.
Freshman Luis Zavala had team highs
of nine kills and three blocks in a four-
set loss at Mount St. Joseph Saturday.
A Jack Spohn block gave the hosts an 11-6 lead in the first set, but Augustana came back to pull even at 11-all on a
Sanchit Khaitan (Glenbard North HS, Bloomingdale, Ill.) service ace. A Spohn kill gave the Lions one final advantage at 12-11, but a
Ryan Hirschel (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) kill eventually gave the Vikings the lead for good at 16-15 and his fourth of the game delivered set point in a 25-19 Augustana win.
Game two featured big runs by both teams. MSJ rode a six-point streak to an 8-2 lead and their guests answered with seven straight to go up 9-8 on a
Luis Zavala (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort, Ill.) ace. However, it was a 5-0 run by the Lions that broke open a tight game, with a Darrell Swanson ace finally extending their advantage to 22-14. Set point in a 25-18 Lion win came on a Swanson kill.
The Vikings came back from an early deficit in game three to take a 16-15 lead on a kill by
Jason Szara (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort, Ill.). They still led 20-19 after a Zavala kill, but MSJ claimed five of the last six points to post a 25-22 win. Set point came via an Augustana attack error.
Game four was tight the whole way. Not until a Szara kill gave the visitors a 16-13 advantage did the margin grow to more than two points. The Lions tied it at 18-all on a Viking attack error and took a 19-18 lead on a block by Ben Holt. Augustana eventually fought off two match points with a Szara kill and a MSJ attack error and took a 25-24 lead on a
Justin Murphy (Glenbard South HS, Lombard, Ill.) block. The Vikings still led 26-25 after another Lion error, but the hosts captured the final three points, with match point in a 28-26 win coming on an Augustana attack error.
Zavala led the Vikings with nine kills, while Szara and Murphy contributed eight each. Khaitan had team highs of 24 assists and three aces and
Matthew Schiferl (Wheeling HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) a team-best 17 digs. Zavala was in on three blocks.
Swanson and Jason Hascher each had a match-high 12 kills for Mount St. Joseph.
Augustana wraps up the 2019 season on Saturday, April 6 with a 4:00 p.m. EDT match at Trine.
