ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team stays at home to host the No. 8 North Central Cardinals on Saturday, March 2. 

The Vikings sit at 13-1 on the season after dominating Clarke in three sets on Thursday night. In the first set, both teams traded points before Augie found three consecutive scores to take an early advantage. Clarke never got within three as the Vikings increased the gap to as many as six on two different occasions to take the first set with a final score of 25-21.

The second set started with Clarke grabbing the first two points, but the Vikings secured three to take the one-point lead before both teams tied six times. A 4-0 run by Augie helped them later extend their lead to five at 15-10. The Vikings stretched the differential out to seven two times throughout the set before securing a 25-18 win. 

In a back-and-forth third set, the two teams tied five teams to begin the game. Clarke found a slight advantage but a kill by Sean Carlson evened the score again. Both teams tied another three times before Augie used a 8-3 spurt to grab a 21-16 advantage. Clarke caught back up, but the Vikings obtained the final three points of the set to close out the match. 

North Central owns a 11-3 overall record and sits at 1-1 in conference play. The Cardinals enter the contest after a 3-2 loss to No. 12 Carthage on Wednesday. The Cardinals grabbed the first two sets of the match, but the Firebirds pulled off the reverse sweep to steal the win. Jared Moser led the Cardinals with 14 kills and Tyler Donovan had 30 assists. North Central is 3-1 on the road this season, with their last away match being on February 24 against Illinois Tech, where the Cardinals grabbed a 3-0 victory. 

North Central holds a 10-1 all-time record over Augie, with the Vikings falling 3-0 in the last matchup on March 26, 2023. Aidan Bolen led with eight kills, while Matthew Degnan had 17 assists and Max Sellers had 12 digs. 

The first serve is scheduled for 3 p.m.