ROCK ISLAND, Ill.—Augustana took on another ranked opponent at Carver Center Tuesday night. The Vikings played their first-ever College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin match versus #12 Carthage and came up on the short end of a four-set decision. The Vikings dropped to 7-6 on the season and 0-1 in the league, while the Red men improved to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference. Coach Mike Ducey's club will host another CCIW match on Saturday, February 22, when Millikin comes calling for a 2:00 p.m. start.
 
A Matt Slivinski kill started a 4-0 run that put Carthage up 8-4 in game one. Augustana would get as close as 10-8 following a Red Men service error, but the visitors ran off eight of the next nine points to take control. Set point in a 24-14 Carthage win came on a Viking error. Slivinski finished with five kills.
 
Freshman Jarod Hesse (Grayslake North HS, Lake Villa, Ill.) had a kill and teamed up with sophomore John Cunningham (Hononegah HS, Roscoe, Ill.) on a block as Augustana took a 4-1 lead in game two. That would be the largest margin of the set, as the Red Men answered with three straight points to tie and it settled into a nip-and-tuck affair the rest of the way. Each team eventually fought off a set point before a Red Men service error and a Luis Zavala (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort, Ill.) kill finished off a 27-25 Viking win.
 
Game three was tied 4-4 after a kill by junior Jason Szara (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort, Ill.), but a Slivinski block ignited an 8-2 run that gave Carthage a 12-6 advantage. Another Szara kill got Augustana to within 13-9, but the Red Men responded by taking 10 of the next 12 points to go up 23-12. A Bryce Thomas kill closed out a 25-15 Carthage win.
 
After Justin Murphy (Glenbard East H S, Lombard, Ill.) opened set four with a kill, the Red Men got kills from Zach Bulthuis and Slivinski and an ace from Braeden Waumans and wouldn't trail again. A Szara kill cut the Viking deficit to 5-3, but Carthage ran off five straight points and the margin wouldn't dip below six the rest of the way. Waumans had two kills in another 5-0 spurt that extended the lead to 16-5. Match point eventually came via an Augustana service error, as the Red Men came out on top 25-11.
 
Szara finished with a dozen kills and Murphy added nine. Sophomore Sanchit Khaitan (Glenbard North HS, Bloomingdale, Ill.) finished with 23 assists and Szara, Khaitan and junior Matthew Schiferl (Wheeling HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) all had nine digs.
 
Slivinski and Waumans each had 13 kills for Carthage. Jacob Allard dished out 40 assists and Parker Connolly was in on five blocks.