CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team was defeated on the road Saturday night, falling in a five-set battle with the North Park Vikings by a score of 29-27, 18-25, 25-19, 17-25, 9-15.
Augustana held three separate six-point advantages in the opening set, but endured a late charge from North Park as a 17-11 lead turned into an 18-18 tie. Augie jumped back out in front with three straight points and eventually held set point at 24-22. The home team Vikings rattled off three straight scores to reach set point of their own, but Augie evened it up to stay alive. The two teams traded points until a kill from
Josh Van Essen and service ace from
Aidan Bolen gave the Vikings a 29-27 win for the 1-0 lead in the match.
North Park broke a 10-10 tie in set two with a 10-4 run to pull ahead and even the match at one win apiece, but Augustana got a win back in the third after breaking a 17-17 deadlock with eight of the final 10 points scored. Augie posted a .533 hitting percentage in the third set alone, tallying 17 kills and committing just one error.
The home team Vikings evened the match back up with a 25-17 set four victory. North Park pulled away early on and grew their game four margin to as many as nine before taking the frame by eight. The win forced a deciding fifth set, just the second of the year for North Park and fourth for Augustana. North Park jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the 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.
Bolen had a match-high 18 kills to lead Augustana, followed by 11 from
Aiden Bond and nine from Van Essen.
Matthew Degnan had 36 assists to help fuel the offensive efforts, while
Max Sellers led the team with 15 digs.
With the loss, Augie falls to 6-11 overall and 2-4 in CCIW play. The team will be back in action on Saturday, March 12 at home vs. Millikin. Start time is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. from inside the Carver Center.
