ROCK ISLAND — The Augustana men's volleyball team returns to the Quad Cities on Tuesday, February 14 for their home opener against the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees.
The Vikings sport a 5-3 record and are coming off a tri-match on Saturday in which they bested the St. Norbert Green Knights in five sets before falling to the Fontbonne Griffins 3-0.

The opening two frames of their matchup against St. Norbert saw the Vikings fall behind by a 2-0 match score. Augie tied the opening set late at 21 points, but a four-point surge from the Green Knights secured them the game. In the second frame, the Vikings again knotted up the set late but stumbled down the stretch, with St. Norbert closing on a 6-1 scoring run.

Augie took a four-point lead in the third set following a five-point scoring burst while trailing 17-16. The teams then alternated service wins, with the Vikings winning 25-21 to bring the series to 2-1. Augie took a 5-2 lead in the fourth set, though St. Norbert stormed back, eventually tying the game at 16. The Vikings scored three straight points to take a 20-16 lead before exchanging service wins, securing a 2-2 series tie heading into the fifth set. Augie fell behind 7-3 in the deciding frame before a four-service flurry tied the game at seven all. The Vikings applied pressure, increasing their lead by three points after a 6-3 run in their favor. St. Norbert failed to respond as Augustana closed out the frame by a 15-12 score, completing the reverse sweep.

In the extended match, the Vikings recorded 51 kills, hitting at a.155 percent clip on their attempts. Zach Moreano led the Vikings with 12 kills, followed by Aidan Bolen, who had ten. Augie's assist leader was Matthew Degnan, who contributed on 39 service wins.

The Vikings then fell in consecutive sets to Fontbonne to halt their five-match winning streak.

Augustana had 27 kills in the match on 82 attempts. Moreano again led the Vikings with eight kills, followed by Bolen's six. Matthew Degnan assisted on 23 service wins, while Max Sellers was the team leader in total digs with nine.

The Fighting Bees currently possess a 4-7 season record and are coming off the two-day Jamestown Invitational where they went 1-3. St. Ambrose's lone win over the weekend came against Central Christian by a 3-0 score, but suffered defeats to Jamestown, Dordt, and Kansas Wesleyan. In their victory over Central Christian, St. Ambrose finished with 26 kills and 13 hitting errors, while the Tigers had 11 total kills and 27 errors.

St. Ambrose holds a 3-1 record over Augustana in their all-time series. Last season, the Vikings defeated the Fighting Bees 3-1 in Davenport, Iowa on February 1, but fell 3-1 to the Fighting Bees in Rock Island on March 25. Bolen tallied a match-high 12 kills in the loss, while Ben Schultz added seven. Degnan assisted on 25 points. 

Start time for the cross-river showdown is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. from inside the Carver Center. The stream link can be found here.