The Augustana men's volleyball team finished the season with a 12-12 overall record, tying the most in a season in program history.
The Vikings began the program's sixth season with an eight-match non-conference slate away from home, emerging with a 5-3 record. The road test included a five-match winning streak, producing wins over Clarke, Roosevelt, Edgewood, Lakeland, and St. Norbert, dropping only four sets during that span. In their debut at the Carver Center, Augie won the first of two of their season series against St. Ambrose 3-0, before defeating Wisconsin Lutheran in the first-ever meeting between the programs. The Vikings posted their second-highest hitting percentage of the season against the Warriors, hitting at a .411 clip as they completed the sweep at home.
A season-high 59 kills led Augie to a road win over the Fighting Bees in late February pushing them to their eighth win before their conference opener. The Vikings endured a three-match losing streak but bounced back in a big way with a neutral-site five-set victory over 16-3 Baldwin Wallace.
The Vikings secured their first conference victory with a 3-0 road win against Illinois Wesleyan in their next outing, seeing double-digit kills from Ben Schultz and nine apiece from Zach Moreano and Sean Carlson to help complete the sweep. Augie stumbled over the course of the next five matches, but notched a win in their final non-conference contest with a 3-0 win over Rockford. Two days later, the Vikings defeated North Park to claim their second conference win and maintain postseason aspirations, but a road match against No. 9 Carthage saw the season come to a close.Â
Aidan Bolen was the Vikings' kill leader with 210, a 2.76 average per set, and a .158 percent strike rate. With 170 and 151 kills, respectively, Schultz and Moreano both eclipsed the 150-kill mark. Schultz also led the team in blocks with 61. Matthew Degnan was the man in the middle for Augustana, totaling 664 assists for an average of 8.10 per game. Max Sellers amassed 212 digs from his libero spot, leading the conference by more than 40. He also tallied his 500th career dig during the season, becoming just the second player in program history to do so.
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Academic All-District: Max SellersÂ
All-CCIW: Max Sellers - 2nd Team
Team MVP: Max Sellers
Letter Winners: SENIORS - Josh Van Essen (2nd) JUNIORS - Matthew Degnan (3rd), Nick Hanusiak (3rd), Micah Reaban (3rd), Marcus Rembert (3rd), Ben Schultz (3rd), Alec Straw (3rd) SOPHOMORE - Aidan Bolen (2nd), Aiden Bond (2nd), Quinby Dahl (2nd), Garrett McNelis (2nd), Zach Moreano (2nd), Bill Unyi (2nd) FRESHMEN - Sean Carlson (1st), Logan Kearns (1st), Tom Lamb (1st), Isaac Pacheco (1st), Jordan Schneckloth (1st)