CHICAGO, Ill. -- North Park Men's Volleyball pulled off a reverse sweep against the Augustana Vikings (21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-10) on Saturday afternoon. North Park drove 55 kills and matched a season high with nine solo blocks in the win. This is just the second reverse sweep in program history and the first one to ever arrive in CCIW action.
Through most of the match, North Park needed to play catch up and attempt to take advantage of service errors from Augustana. A 10-7 lead for Augustana drew to 10-9 after freshman middle blocker Jan Dragan stuffed an attack and senior outside hitter Ty Ingrao drove a kill. Augustana built a 4-point lead (16-12) before an Augie service error, kill from Dragan, and ace by sophomore outside hitter Gerald Malana brought the Vikings back in the match. Later in the set, the Vikings closed in (20-19) on kills by fifth-year setter Teddy Gedville and another from Dragan. However, Augie took five of the next seven points to win 25-21.
Augustana ran rampant in the second set, hitting .611 with only one attack error to make short work of North Park, but NPU made some strides in the third set.
Augie went ahead, 11-7, on kills from Benjamin Schultz and a service ace for Tom Lamb. However, kills by Gedville, junior middle blocker Jonah Johnsamson, and blocks from Dragan and Ingrao tied things up, 14-14.
North Park took its first lead, 16-15, on a block from senior middle blocker Sam Robinson and kill by Ingrao. A wide shot from Augustana and an Augustana service error put North Park up by two and, following a kill by Schultz, Ingrao and Malana returned fire with one kill each to stay ahead of Augie, 20-17.
Another attacking error forced an Augustana timeout, as North Park held a 21-17 lead. Augie would make it a two-point match, but once more the Vikings from Rock Island fell victim to the serve, giving NPU the 25-22 third set win on a service error.
A 3-0 start for North Park was led by a pair of service aces from senior setter Liam Miller before a double block from Ingrao and Robinson and Augustana attacking error forced an Augie timeout. Augustana got their first point on an overpass, but North Park was still in the driver's seat, 5-1. Despite posting its lowest attacking percentage of the match in the fourth set (.135), North Park powered through with five aces to force a fifth set.
In the deciding set, North Park managed a two-point lead four times before reaching the court-flipping point of number eight with an 8-6 lead. NPU got there thanks to an ace by Ingrao, kills by Robinson, Dragan, and Ingrao and a handful of Augie errors.
However, following the bench change, Augustana would tie things up at 9-9 and 10-10. However, kills by Robinson, Ingrao, and Gedville contributed three of the next five-straight NPU points, as North Park secured the reverse sweep win, 15-10.
Quick Hits
- First CCIW reverse sweep in program history for NPU
- Ingrao led NPU with 16 kills, posting a double-double with 14 digs
- Pair of aces for Miller, three blocks each for Robinson and Dragan
- Miller adds 27 assists - a season high - and makes it a double-double with 11 digs
- Malana represents third player on NPU with a double-double - 16 kills 14 digs
- Augie's Cole Clarke led the match with 18 kills
- Seven blocks for Benjamin Schultz of Augustana
Highlights
What's Next?
North Park (8-6, 1-1 CCIW) will host Illinois Wesleyan University (10-6, 0-2) next Wednesday, Feb. 26. First serve in Chicago will be 7:00 PM CT.
