Photo credit: Paige Wilcox
Chicago, Ill. – The North Park University men's volleyball team won both games by a score of 3-0 in a doubleheader with a young Illinois Wesleyan squad on Wednesday evening at NPU Gymnasium. This is the first ever matchup between North Park and Illinois Wesleyan in men's volleyball, as this is the inagural season for the Titans.
Match 1
The first set was back and forth with the two sides finding themselves knotted at 19-19 before the Vikings scored four straight points with Noah Salazar serving to put them in firm control to close out the set and take the 1-0 lead.
The second set followed suit with the Titans refusing to go away easy. With the scored all square at 23, sophomore Armando Quinones took over. He grabbed the final three kills that the Vikings scored, including final kill that gifted North Park the second set by a score of 27-25.
It was North Park in control the entire set as they ripped out to an early 9-3 lead and never looked back. The Vikings had a .556 hit percentage in the third set with Quinones and freshman Emmanuel Eugene having four kills apiece. Not only was the Viking offense dominant, but the defense was equally impressive as the Titans were held to a .150 hitting percentage. North Park won the set 25-13 to clinch the 3-0 sweep of the first match.
Match 2
The second match started off equally as impressive for the Vikings as Quinones and Quinn Robinson each tallied four kills to power North Park to another 25-13 set win. The hosts also continued their run of stellar defense with their five team blocks forcing Illinois Wesleyan to hit -.030 in the set.
North Park was ahead for essentially the entire second set, but the Titans seemed to always stay within striking distance. With the Vikings up by five, Quinones added another kill to his impressive night to cap a 25-19 set victory for the hosts.
The final set of the doubleheader was another convincing win by the Vikings. After Illinois Wesleyan took an early 2-1 lead, Salazar capped off a three-point run by North Park to give the Vikings a lead that they never surrendered. Erik Bullard would serve for the final five points of the match as North Park finished on a 5-0 run to get the 25-15 victory and a second 3-0 sweep of the Titans.
Quick Hits
- Armando Quinones had a total of 24 kills over the course of the two games, hitting .444 and .350 in the first and second game, respectively.
- Teddy Gedville tallied 38 assists on the day, while Alejandro Condoy had seven assists of his own.
- Colin Wong had 20 digs total in both games, while Erik Bullard got 11 digs in the second game alone.
- Quinn Robinson had three aces in the first game and a total of nine kills for the day.
- Freshman Emmanuel Eugene got himself 12 kills as part of his impressive start to his college career.
What's Next?
North Park (3-0) will go on the road for the first time this year as they head to Decatur, Illinois to take on CCIW foe Millikin University (0-1) on February 17th. That game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Griswold Center.
