NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The North Park men's volleyball team took on #5 North Central and Fontbonne University on Saturday afternoon as part of North Central's annual Family Weekend festivities. The Vikings sadly struggled today to the tune of two 0-3 losses, marking their first defeat since February 26th. 

Despite coming into the day with momentum following three straight wins, the Vikings were unable to one-up their last performance against the Cardinals where they won one set back on February 15th. North Central managed to double the Vikings' kill total across today's game, picking up 47 to North Park's 23. The lone misstep from the Cardinals came in Set 2 where they registered a .179% hit percentage. That mark lies well below their season average of .301%. However, the Vikings failed to capitalize as they too struggled in that set, recording more errors than kills. North Central would go on to complete the sweep in the third set. 

The Vikings saw some improvement from Game 1 to Game 2 against Fontbonne, notably through their hit percentage that more than doubled. The jump however was not substantial enough to alter the game's outcome. Fontbonne—despite seeming like the easier matchup on paper—actually proved more challenging than the #5 Cardinals due to their consistency across sets. While the Cardinals showed some lapses in the Vikings' first match, the Griffins of Fontbonne remained steady throughout all of Game 2. It would ultimately lead to a performance that saw just 13 errors to 43 kills, good for a .361% hit percentage and 3-0 victory. 

It was a tough day for Vikings Volleyball. North Park will have the chance to turn things around though on Tuesday when they take on Wittenburg University at 7:00 P.M. Today's double-header marked the start of a road trip for the Vikings, so as such they will be traveling out to Ohio to take on the Tigers.