Media: Angelina Azzo & Esther Miller

CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Vikings men's volleyball faced off with the Illinois Wesleyan Titans on Wednesday evening, earning victory in just three sets (25-19, 25-23, 25-17). The win marks North Park's first in conference play this year as the Vikings move to 1-2 in the CCIW, with both losses coming against the nationally ranked Carthage Firebirds. 

The Vikings opened with their most efficient set of the night, maintaining a .370 hitting percentage in the 25-19 win. Tied early on at 4-4, the Vikings thereafter went on a 10-4 run to pull away from the Titans before Teddy Gedville and Erik Bullard combined for the final blow.

The second set was the most competitive of the match, despite North Park at one point holding a 22-15 lead over Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans rallied back with a late service run from Luke Weston, but it fell just short after a Wesleyan error gave the Vikings their second win on the evening. 

In the third and final set, NPU finished with their largest scoring margin in a 25-17 win. Service runs from Christian Ayar and Parker Payne helped the Vikings to pull away after an early back-and-forth with Wesleyan, enabling North Park to jump out to a sizable 18-11 lead. Another alternating stretch of scoring ensued, but a combined block from Vicente Cabrera and Ikenna Nkuku ultimately finished off the set and the match as North Park solidified the sweep. 

Cabrera led NPU with 10 kills as the only Viking in double-digits, with Ty Ingrao (8) and Erik Bullard (6) close behind. Cabrera and Bullard also both tallied 2 aces to mark another team-high. Bullard was involved defensively as well with a team-high 7 digs alongside 2 blocks, while Bobby Vaughn's mark of 4 led the Vikings in the latter category. In the passing department, Teddy Gedville picked up 25 of the team's 32 assists. 

What's Next?

Conference play is set to ramp up for the Vikings who next face off with Loras on March 11th. North Park will make the trip to Dubuque, Iowa as the away team with their matchup against the Duhawks slated for 2:00 P.M. On the back of Wednesday's win, the Vikings enter that contest at 9-7 overall.