ROCK ISLAND, Ill.— Augustana took just over an hour to defeat North Park in straight sets Wednesday night at Carver Center. Coach Mike Ducey's squad improved to 9-6 on the season and 2-1 in the CCIW, while NPU fell to 3-9 overall and 1-2 in the league.
 
A pair of Johnny Euler kills helped stake North Park to a 4-0 lead in game one and the visitors still led 8-4 following a Moises Zavala service ace. Augustana chipped away however, eventually taking a 12-11 lead on an ace by sophomore Luis Zavala (Lincoln-Way East HS, Frankfort, Ill.). An Armando Quinones kill gave NPU one final lead at 14-13, but when Sophomore Sanchit Khaitan (Glenbard North HS, Bloomingdale, Ill.) set freshman Jarod Hesse (Grayslake North HS, Lake Villa, Ill.) for a kill that made it 17-16, the hosts had the lead for good. Hesse's kill sparked a 5-0 Viking run that pushed the advantage to 21-16. Set point in a 25-18 Viking win came on a Justin Murphy (Glenbard East HS, Lombard, Ill.) block.
 
After North Park took a 3-1 lead in game two, Augustana ran off 14 of the next 17 points to take control. Murphy and Zavala each had two kills in the spurt and Khaitan a pair of aces. NPU would get no closer than six points the rest of the way and committed an attack error that finished off a 25-16 Augustana win.
 
Ducey's bunch led wire-to-wire in 25-14 set-three victory. Augustana's first three points came on Murphy kills and Zavala had two in a 5-0 run that extended the Viking lead to 11-4. Hesse had a pair of kills in a 7-1 run that put Augustana up 20-7. Gary Dodovich (St. Benedict HS, Chicago, Ill.) had a kill and an ace to get the Vikings to match point and Murphy delivered it with his 13th kill of the night.
 
In addition to Murphy's match-high total, Zavala chipped in with seven kills and Hesse a half-dozen. Khaitan handled all of Augustana's setting duties and dished out 28 assists. Matthew Schiferl (Wheeling HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) led the Vikings with 13 digs and Dodovich contributed nine.  Zavala and Hesse were each in on three blocks.
 
North Park's leaders were Phillip Duros with six kills, Moises Zavala with 20 assists and Frank Mauigoa with 12 digs and three blocks.
 
Augustana hits the road on Friday, February 28 for a date with seventh-ranked Dominican in River Forest, Illinois. That match is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.