DUBUQUE, Iowa -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team went 1-1 on the first day of the Loras Invite on Saturday, defeating the Edgewood Eagles 3-1 before falling to the Fontbonne Griffins 3-0.
Match One
The Vikings erased an early deficit in their first match of the day against the Eagles, bouncing back from a 25-19 set one defeat with three straight victories to start the weekend off with a win. In sets two and three, the Vikings never trailed after pulling away early to create comfortable leads. The Eagles made things interesting in the second game after cutting a seven-point margin to three at 20-17, but the Vikings tallied five of the final six points to knot the match at one win apiece. In set three, Augie posted a differential of as many as ten points and prevented any comeback threat from Edgewood, winning by a score of 25-16.
The Eagles doubled up the Vikings early in the fourth set with a lead of 10-5, and held onto an advantage all the way up until Augustana tied the game at 21-21. From there, Edgewood rattled off three of the next four scores to find themselves at set point at 24-22. With a fifth set looming, the Vikings charged back with four straight points thanks to a kill from
Aiden Bond, a service ace from
Josh Van Essen and two Eagles miscues. The 26-24 victory for Augie gave them the 3-1 match victory and second straight win overall.
It was a balanced offensive attack for the Vikings, led by nine kills from
Aidan Bolen. Van Essen was next with seven to go with three service aces, while
Luis Zavala added five. Patel Pratham had a team-high ten digs to spearhead the defensive efforts.
Match Two
Augie took on the undefeated Fontbonne Griffins in their second match of the day, falling by a score of 3-0. The Vikings had two hard-fought sets against the Griffins, who were ranked nationally to begin the season, but endured late scoring spurts that allowed their opponent to pull away. After Augie scored four straight points to cut a first-set deficit to a point, Fontbonne went on to secure five of the final six points to take it by a score of 25-20. In set two, the Griffins saw a similar finish as they cushioned themselves from the Vikings after leading 19-17 to go on and win by four. It was all Fontbonne in the final set as they won 25-10 to earn the match victory in consecutive sets.
Bolen led Augustana in kills for the second consecutive contest, finishing with eight. Bond and
Ben Schultz each added five.
Ethan Keung had 15 assists.
With Saturday's results, the Vikings sit at 2-3 on the season. The team will continue their stay in Dubuque on Sunday, February 6 when they take on Adrian and Marian. The first match of the day against Adrian is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
