ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team earned a home victory on Tuesday night over the visiting Illinois Wesleyan Titans, winning in consecutive sets by a score of 25-17, 25-20, 25-17.
It was a fast start for the Vikings, jumping out to a quick 7-2 advantage and eventually doubling up the Titans with 10 of the first 15 points. Augie continued to take two points for every Illinois Wesleyan one and continued to remain doubled up later on at 16-8. The Vikings saw their lead grow to as many as nine before finishing off the set with a 25-17 triumph. Augustana hit .306 in the frame and had 20 team digs to Illinois Wesleyan's 17.
The two teams traded points for an early tie in set two before the Titans broke away for the game's first run, using a 4-0 spurt to push the score to 8-4 in their favor. Augustana charged back to tie the set at 9-9, but was followed by another 4-0 outburst from Illinois Wesleyan. The Vikings continued to play catch-up and eventually jumped in front 18-17. Each team continued to exchange scores until a string of Titan errors put Augie in front for good. The Vikings closed the frame with back-to-back kills from
Aiden Bond and
Josh Van Essen to earn the 25-20 set win and take a 2-0 lead heading into the third.
Five straight points off of the serving arm of Van Essen allowed the Vikings to get it out in front of the Titans early in set three at a score of 7-4. From there, Augie multiplied their advantage by two to force a Titans timeout and ended up growing the lead to as many as nine before closing the match with a 25-17 set three victory.
Bond concluded his night with a match-high 11 kills.
Aidan Bolen had seven, followed by five from
Ben Schultz.
Matthew Degnan also posted a match-high with 14 assists, while
Max Sellers secured 12 digs. As a team, the Vikings hit .314 overall.
With the win, Augustana improves to 6-10 overall and 2-3 in CCIW play. The team will be back in action on Saturday, March 5 when they visit North Park. Start time is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. from Chicago.
