ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team went 1-1 in the battles with the Greenville Panthers and Aurora Spartans on Saturday. The Vikings picked up a 3-0 sweep against the Panthers with set scores of 25-15, 25-12, and 25-16. In the second matchup, Augie fell 3-1 to the Spartans with a game score of 27-25, 19-25, 28-26, and 25-16.
In the first matchup, Greenville scored first but the Vikings followed with three of their own to take the early advantage. The Panthers got within one, but four consecutive points by Augie made an 8-3 score. Augie stretched the gap to 10 after a service error by Greenville to make a 17-7 game. The Vikings maintained the advantage and closed the first set with the final three points to secure a 10-point victory with a score of 25-15.
In set two, both teams drew even six times before a three-point run from Augie allowed a slight advantage. The Vikings stretched the gap to 10 after eight consecutive points to make a 17-7 score. Augie remained up by as many as 10 on three different occasions before Zachary Kampen closed the set with a kill from Tommy Culver to earn the largest lead of 13 with a final score of 25-12.
The Panthers took the early advantage after a four-point run in the third, but the Vikings drew even after a service ace by Culver to make the score 8-8. Greenville regained the upper hand after a 4-2 run, but Augie secured the following 10 points to take an eight-point lead with a 20-12 score. The Vikings kept their distance and closed the third set with three kills from Ryan Huntington, Zaccary Ruiz, and Bill Unyi to obtain the 25-16 victory.
As a team, Augie hit .351 percent while holding Greenville to -.068. Ben Schultz and Huntington led the team with seven kills, while Colin Schaefer had 17 assists, Max Sellers notched seven digs, and Alexander Sulewski blocked three attempts.
In the matchup against Aurora, the Spartans secured the early advantage after a 4-1 run to begin the contest. Aurora maintained the advantage until six consecutive points by the Vikings switched the lead in Augie's favor by a score of 23-21. Both teams drew even two times before a kill by Cole Clarke and a ball-handling error by the Spartans allowed Augie to take the first set 27-25.
In the second, both teams drew even three times in the second set before Aurora took a slight advantage after a 4-1 run to make an 8-5 score. Auge got within two points on four different occasions, but the Spartans maintained the lead to take the second set 25-19.
In another neck-to-neck frame, both teams tied seven times before the Vikings collected a three-point run to make a 10-7 score. The Spartans evened the game at 14-14 and both teams drew even three additional times before three consecutive points put Augie back on top by a score of 19-17. The set was tied eight more times with Aurora collecting the final two points to take the third game 28-26. The Spartans claimed the fourth set with a 25-16 final to complete the 3-1 win.
Carlson led the team with 14 kills, while Schaefer had 40 assists, and Sellers had 18 digs.
With the split, Augie moves to 4-2 on the season and will return to action on Friday, January 31 at MSOE.
