NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The Vikings' 2023 season has come to a close after Wednesday evening's three-set loss to North Central in the first round of the CCIW Playoffs. The scores finalized at 12-25, 15-25, and 14-25 as the Cardinals move on to the CCIW Championship this Saturday afternoon.  

Outside of Noah Salazar and Parker Payne, who combined for 8 kills in 18 attacks for a .333 hitting percentage, North Park struggled against a stout NCC front row. The Vikings hit .095 in 84 attempts across the three sets, with their best performance coming in Set 2 where they recorded 10 of their 23 kills. On the other side of the net, NCC secured points in over half of their attacks to total 47 kills in 87 tries.  

Salazar was one of three Vikings to mark 5 kills in the Round 1 matchup, and he stayed active on the defensive end with a team-high 8 digs. Sam Robinson and Erik Bullard joined him with 5 kills, with the former tallying 2 solo blocks and the latter scoring the team's lone ace. Emmanuel Eugene trailed closely behind the group with 4 kills of his own alongside 7 digs. North Park's 22 assists were accounted for by Teddy Gedville and Alejandro Condoy, with Gedville's mark of 16 leading the way.  

NPU ends the season with a 12-16 overall record in coach Mike Sopocy's fifth season. He and the Vikings have now made the CCIW Tournament in each of the last three years, and the young roster will look to turn an extra year of experience into a fourth consecutive tournament appearance in 2024.