ROCK ISLAND -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team fell to the Dominican Stars on Thursday in five sets with set scores of 25-21, 17-25, 25-18, 22-25, and 10-15.
In the first set, both teams went back and forth four times before two consecutive points put Dominican on top by a score of 6-4. Augie got within one twice before a five-point run overtook the Stars 11-9. After a couple of ties, Sean Carlson moved the lead back in the Vikings' favor with a 15-13 score. The Stars had four consecutive errors to help stretch Augie's lead to five with a 20-15 game. Kills from Carlson and Zach Moreano later clinched the first set by four points. Dominican secured the second set by eight points to move the match score to one win apiece.
The Vikings claimed the early advantage after a 5-2 in the third set. The Stars got as close as one on four different occasions before snatching the lead with a three-point run to make it a 10-9 score. A strike by Tom Lamb tied the game at 10 apiece and both teams drew even twice more until back-to-back errors from the Stars put Augie back on top by a score of 14-12. Four consecutive points opened Augie's gap to as many as seven after a kill by Ryan Huntington and a service error by the Stars allowed the Vikings to take the third set by seven points. In a close fourth set, both teams drew even 11 times, but Dominican closed the set with a 7-4 run to force a fifth set.
In the fifth, the two teams traded rally wins before the Stars grabbed a 4-2 lead. The Vikings fought back and got within one on four different occasions, but back-to-back points from Dominican stretched the advantage to 10-7. The Stars closed the match with a 4-1 run to take the victory after five sets.
Carlson led the team with 16 kills, while Colin Schaefer notched 44 assists and Max Sellers had 16 digs. Carlson and Ben Schultz served two aces apiece, while Schultz and Lamb blocked four attempts each.
With the loss, Augie moves to 10-4 on the season. The Vikings will be back in action on Saturday, February 22 to begin conference play against North Park in Chicago, Ill.
