ROCK ISLAND – The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team opened their 2024 campaign at home on Thursday, defeating the visiting Concordia-Chicago Cougars in consecutive sets.
The Vikings started the contest with a kill from Sean Carlson, which was followed by an assisted block by Carlson and Ben Schultz to take the early 2-0 advantage. Both teams went back and forth with service errors as they each grabbed two points to create a 4-2 battle. The Cougars narrowed the gap to 10-9, but Augie bounced back and generated a five-point opening. The Vikings kept their advantage and grew a lead of as many as eight before taking set one by a 25-18 final.
The second set started with a five-point run from the Vikings until the Cougars grabbed two of their own. Both teams rallied off points, while Augie maintained their lead and nearly doubled the score after a kill from Schultz made it a 15-8 score. The Vikings continued to keep their separation, reaching a lead of double-digits before grabbing a 25-17 win.
In the final set, Augie grabbed the first two points from kills by Moreano and Garrett McNelis to take the lead. The battle was neck-and-neck with an attack error from Augie allowing the Cougars to tie. The Vikings followed with three points to make the score 9-6, but Concordia returned the favor with three of their own to tie it back up at 9-9. The two teams traded the lead for several rallies, but the Vikings pulled away from a 14-13 score with five straight points. Quinby Dahl put the exclamation point on the 25-16 win with a match-sealing kill to give Augie the sweep in their season opener.
Augustana's offensive attack was led by Carlson and Aidan Bolen with nine kills apiece. Max Sellers put up 11 digs, while Matthew Degnan had 15 assists. Schultz also added four blocks to lead the Augie defense. As a team, the Vikings hit .329 on the night while holding the Cougars to a .042 mark.
With the win, Augustana starts the season with a 1-0 record and will be back in action on Saturday, January 20 as they host the Concordia-Wisconsin Falcons.
