DECATUR, Ill. – After seeing its five-match winning streak snapped by third-ranked Carthage on Sunday, Coach Mike Ducey's Augustana squad got back to its winning ways Wednesday with a straight set victory over Millikin at the Griswold Center. The Vikings improved to 7-4 overall and 6-2 in the CCIW, while the Big Blue fell to 0-9 on the season and 0-8 in the conference.
 
A kill by Jarod Hesse (Grayslake North HS, Lake Villa, Ill.) gave Augustana an 11-10 game-one lead that it wouldn't surrender. Gary Dodovich's (St. Benedict HS, Chicago, Ill.) service ace finished off a 7-2 Viking run that made it 17-12 and set point in a 25-16 Augustana win came when Sanchit Khaitan (Glenbard North HS, Bloomingdale, Ill.) set Justin Murphy (Glenbard East HS, Lombard, Ill.) for a kill.
 
Millikin led as late as 16-15 in game two following a Michael Anderson kill, but Hesse had a pair of kills as the Vikings answered with a 4-0 run to go up 19-16. A Chelan Beavers block pulled the Big Blue even (20-20) one final time before the guests captured five of the last seven points for a 25-22 win. Set point came on a Millikin service error.
 
The teams traded runs early in game three. Two Colby Campbell blocks gave the Big Blue their biggest leads at 18-13 and 19-14 and they still led 21-17 after a Ryan Gould kill. Murphy answered with one of his own to spark a 5-0 Augustana run that gave the visitors a 22-21 advantage. A pair of Viking errors put Millikin back on top 23-22, but Ducey's bunch captured the last three points, with match point coming on a Max Sellers (Edwardsville HS, Edwardsville, Ill.) service ace.
 
Murphy finished with nine kills and no errors on just 13 swings, good for an attack percentage of .692. Hesse also had nine kills and freshman Benjamin Schultz (Sunset HS, Portland, Ore.) a half-dozen. Khaitan dished out 26 assists and Brett Kliegl (Neuqua Valley HS, Bolingbrook, Ill.) led the way with 10 digs. Schultz added a pair of solo blocks.
 
Jakob Henderson had a match-high 11 kills for the Big Blue and Jose Gallardo finished with 21 assists and 10 digs.
 
Augustana returns to Carver Center on Saturday, March 20. The Vikings are scheduled to host their namesakes from North Park beginning at 3:00 p.m.