Box Score

ROCK ISLAND — The Augustana Vikings men's volleyball team swept the Illinois Wesleyan Titans on Saturday with set scores of 25-23, 25-20, and 25-15.

The Titans found the early lead in the first set before a kill by Ben Schultz and back-to-back attack errors from Illinois Wesleyan evened the set at three apiece. Both teams drew even eight times before four consecutive points for the Vikings moved them out in front. Illinois Wesleyan tied the set again at 17-17, but a kill by Ryan Huntington and a bad set by the Titans granted Augie the two-point lead. The Titans converted a 3-1 run to even the score late in the set and both teams drew even once more. The Vikings strung together a late 3-1 run with Huntington closing the set with a kill to take the first set by two points. 

In the second set, Augie found the early 5-1 advantage and stretched the gap to as many as five following a kill by Colin Schaefer. Kills by Cole Clarke and Zach Moreano moved the margin to seven and the team found this advantage again after a successful attack by Tom Lamb. Augie held the advantage and found its largest lead of eight after three consecutive points and maintained this advantage with Moreano securing the second set by five points with a kill.

Both teams went back and forth with points six times in the third before a kill by Huntington and an attack error by the Titans allowed Augie to grab a two-point advantage. Illinois Wesleyan tied the set at eight apiece and snatched the lead before four consecutive points from the Vikings regained them the lead. Augie moved its advantage out to as many as seven after back-to-back service aces by Huntington made it a 17-10 game. The Vikings later used a run of five consecutive points to secure the largest cushion of 10 and found this lead two additional times before holding on for the 10-point win.

As a team, Augie hit .329 percent, while holding Illinois Wesleyan to just .194 percent. Moreano led the team with 10 kills, while Schaefer had 33 assists and Max Sellers had 17 digs. Huntington served three aces and Schultz blocked three attempts. 

With the win, Augie moves to 11-9 on the season and 1-5 in conference play. The team will be back in action on Wednesday, March 19 for their second matchup against Loras.