ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- The Vikings Men's Volleyball team swept through conference foe Augustana on Wednesday evening, moving to 5-6 on the CCIW season and securing a spot in the CCIW Tournament. With the win, North Park has locked themselves in at the #4 seed.
North Park proved to be the superior Vikings, playing one of their most dominant matches of the season over the course of 3 sets. The tone was set early on after jumping out to a 13-3 lead in Set 1 before eventually winning 25-19 on a kill from Emmanuel Eugene. That momentum was mirrored in Set 2. The Vikings again jumped ahead—this time 12-4—and it was again Eugene securing the game-winning kill at 25-19, following a run of service from Noah Salazar. The final set marked the first time all night that Augie held a lead even though Set 3 also marked North Park's largest margin of victory. The slow start was remedied by a multitude of mid-game service runs, with Harrison Potts, Noah Salazar, and Emmanuel Eugene all taking turns as the hot hand. Erik Bullard kept the fire going with a run towards the end of the game before finishing the job with a kill to give the Vikings a 25-14 victory and a shot at the NCAA tournament.
As a whole, North Park picked up 36 kills, 5 aces, and held a .238 hit percentage—all of which were squarely ahead of Augie's marks. Emmanuel Eugene and Teddy Gedville made their presence felt with standout individual performances on both sides of the court. Eugene led the team in kills with 16 and digs with 8, while Gedville led in assists with 26 and blocks with 4. Erik Bullard also showed out in what was his final regular season game, picking up 11 kills and 1 ace.
The Vikings have a matchup with Illinois Wesleyan at 7:00 on Saturday, April 2nd, but the team's eyes are likely locked onto Carthage with the regular season standings set in place. A loss today for the Vikings would have given the Titans a chance to overtake them in standings this weekend, but North Park denies them the opportunity with the win over Augie.
Looking forwards to that playoff matchup, North Park is slotted to take on the nation's #3 team on Wednesday, April 6th at 7:00 P.M, though the final tournament schedule is subject to change.
