CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team dropped their conference opener against the North Park Vikings on Saturday in five sets with set scores of 25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 22-25, and 10-15.
North Park team obtained the first two points in the first set but Augie followed with the next three to snatch the lead. Both teams drew even three times before five consecutive points from the Vikings moved the gap to four with a 9-5 score. The home team got within one on two different occasions before a three-point run moved the Vikings' cushion back to four with a 14-10 score. Later in the set, a pair of kills from Cole Clarke and an attack error by the home team moved Augustana's advantage to four with a 23-19 score. A kill from Tom Lamb secured the first set by four points for the Vikings.
In the second set, both teams went back and forth and saw seven times early on before three consecutive points put the Vikings up by a score of 9-7. The two teams traded rally wins before a 5-1 run moved Augie's gap to five with a score of 18-3. North Park collected three points to get as close as two, but the Vikings followed with five of their own to create a seven-point gap. A kill by Clarke conquered the second set by seven points.
In another neck-and-neck third set, the two teams drew even three times before a 5-1 run by Augie took the slight 8-4 advantage. The Vikings held the advantage until North Park converted a 6-2 run to even the score at 14 apiece. A 5-1 run moved the home team to a four-point advantage at 21-17 and held on to secure the third set to extend the match.
In the fourth set, the host Vikings secured the early five-point lead and never lost the advantage to eventually force a fifth set. In the deciding frame, North Park grabbed a 3-1 advantage until kills from Ryan Huntington and Colin Schaefer evened the score at five apiece. North Park broke away from a 10-10 tie with the final five points to take the set 15-10.
As a team, Augie hit .270 percent, while their opponent hit .226 percent. Clarke led the team with 18 kills, while Schaefer notched 48 assists and Max Sellers had 14 digs. Zach Moreano served three aces and Ben Schultz blocked seven attempts.
With the loss, Augie moves to 10-5 on the season and 0-1 in conference play. The team will be back in action on Wednesday, February 25 to host No. 12 Loras.
