The Augustana men’s first volleyball game of the season started with a loss in a 0-3 home match against Aquinas College on Friday, Jan. 18.
During the third match of the night, the Vikings started strong with a kill by sophomore Jason Szara. Aquinas was able to land a few solid kills leading with the score of 10-8.
A few minutes later, Augustana sophomore Joshua Richardson spiked a successful attack making the game tied 11-11. First-year Luis Zavala made a handful of successful blocks in the last half of the third match.
With both scores increasing, sophomore Matthew Schiferl was able to get a few good digs before Aquinas blocked the Vikings attack winning the game 25-20.
During the first match, first-year Caleb Minnis started the game off strong making two successful kills within the first few minutes of the night.
Minnis shared some of the teams expectations for the season.
“We stay together as a unit and [we] will get better throughout the season,” Minnis said. “Our main goal is to make it to the championship game.”
During the last half, Augustana struggled to find their stride as Aquinas played their way to an eight point lead making the score 13-5. Sophomore Dylan Baum helped the Vikings close the gap by having another kill for the team. By the end of the first match, Aquinas took the win with the score of 25-14.
Moving onto the second match of night, Augustana started strong with a 3-0 lead. With the help of Szara making two kills in a row and Minnis following with another successful attack, the score was now 11-12 with the Vikings one point behind.
Junior Jordan Hawk discussed the strengths of the team during this match.
“Each set progressed in a positive way,” Hawk said. “We do a good job of retaining a high intensity level and communicating with each other to figure out the good and the bad.”
By the end of the second set, Richardson added another point to the score with a kill. With a timeout called the score remained at 16-18 with the Vikings trailing two points behind.
Aquinas came back with two kills and a tip. The Vikings were able to retaliate with some attacks but in the end, Aquinas College took the win the a score of 25-21.
Sophomore Gary Dodovich discussed what the team took away from this game.
“We did a good job of getting out first game jitters. We didn’t focus on the score so much and focused on staying together as a team,” Dodovich said.
The men’s next game will be on Saturday, Jan. 26 against Mount St. Joseph. They will be playing two games, one against Dominican and one against Mount St. Joseph.