KENOSHA, Wis. -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team returns to action on Wednesday, March 16 after a week-and-a-half break as they gear up to take on the No. 3 ranked Carthage Firebirds on the road.
Augie's last match came back on March 5, a 3-2 defeat at North Park. Augustana won the first and third sets in the contest, but were countered by wins with by the home Vikings to bring it to a fifth set. North Park jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the fifth game, but Augie charged back to tie the score at 8-8. From there, North Park secured the next two points to give them the slight advantage and after one more Augustana point, the home team rattled off five consecutive scores to seal the match victory.
Aidan Bolen had a match-high 18 kills to lead Augustana, followed by 11 from
Aiden Bond and nine from
Josh Van Essen.
Matthew Degnan had 36 assists to help fuel the offensive efforts, while
Max Sellers led the team with 15 digs.
The Firebirds enter Wednesday winners of 12 in a row after beginning the year 0-3. They sit a perfect 7-0 in CCIW play and have dropped just three total sets all year in conference. In their most recent outing, Carthage defeated Fontbonne 3-0 in a non-conference meeting in Kenosha. Prior to that, the Firebirds knocked off Loras on the road 3-1. The defending national champions are up to their highest AVCA ranking of the season after losing their preseason No. 1 rank.
Carthage defeated Augustana in their previous encounter this season in Rock Island, a 3-0 win for the Firebirds. The Vikings have never defeated the Firebirds and are 0-8 all time.
Game coverage at Carthage
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