DE PERE, Wis. -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team battled Olivet and UW-Stevens Point on Saturday for the first day of the St. Norbert Tournament. 

In the first match against Olivet, Augie converted a 3-0 sweep with a score of 26-24, 25-22, and 25-17. The first set started with an Olivet early lead with a score of 2-0, but Augie tied the match at 3-3 after a block by Ty Heater and Sean Carlson. Both teams tied five more times before the Vikings secured a three-point lead due to a kill by Garrett McNelis to make the score 14-11. Olivet followed with seven consecutive points to take a 18-14 advantage, but a service ace by Matthew Degnan later tied the battle back up at 20-20 before the team jumped out in front by two at 22-20. Both teams tied three additional times before Augie closed out with two consecutive points and ended the first set 26-24 after a solo block by Aidan Bolen. 

The Vikings took the early advantage in the second set,grabbing the first two points to create a 2-0 score. Both teams saw 10 ties before Augie took the upper hand with two points following three errors from Olivet to make the score 13-11. The Vikings held on to the advantage for the remainder of the set and a kill from Zach Moreano closed out the set with a score of 25-22.

In another back-and-forth set, both teams tied seven times before Augie used a 5-0 run to generate an 11-7 score. The Vikings spread out the lead even more and closed out the set with five consecutive points, which ended in a service ace by Moreano to wrap up the final set 25-17.

As a team, Augie hit .283, while holding Olivet to .109. Bolen led with 11 kills, with Moreano following with nine. Degnan had 25 assists, while Max Sellers had 11 digs. 

In the second match of the day, Augie overcame five sets against UW-Stevens Point to secure a 3-2 victory. In the first, both teams tied at 1-1 until a kill by Carlson secured Augie's early advantage. Both teams alternated points until 8-8, where UW-Stevens Point grabbed two scores to make it 10-8. The Vikings followed with four consecutive points to take the lead 12-10. The two teams continued to go back-and-forth, but the Pointers squeaked out the first set with a late push.

In another back-and-forth set, both teams tied 13 times before Augie pulled away a 7-0 run to create a 19-13 score. The Vikings held on by a 25-20 score to even the match at one win apiece. Stevens Point was victorious in the third as another close battle resulted in a 28-26 for the Pointers. 

Both teams tied the game five times at the start of the fourth set until the Pointers took a two-point advantage. Augie followed with seven consecutive points and a kill by Carlson moments later increased the gap to 10 to make the score 23-13. The Vikings closed out the fourth set with a solo block by Bolen to take the set 25-16.

In the final set, Augie grabbed an early advantage with a score of 2-0 and was able to increase their lead to five points after a 4-0 run to generate a 8-3 score. The Vikings kept their lead and a kill by Moreano closed out the fifth set 15-10.

As a team, Augie hit .283, while holding UW-Stevens Points to .145. Bolen led with 15 kills, with Heater following with 14 and McNelis with 12. Colin Schaefer had 35 assists, while Max Sellers set a new record with digs in a single match with 29. The 29 digs breaks the previous record of 25 set back in 2018.

With the two wins, the Vikings move to 6-1 on the season and will return Sunday, February 4 for the second day of the St. Norbert Tournament to face off against the St. Norbert Green Knights at 12 p.m.