Pride win 2022 opener in five set thriller over Augustana

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - For the second-straight season, the Clarke University men's volleyball team won their season opener in five sets as they begun their 2022 season with a 3-2 win over Augustana College on Saturday.

The Pride had their chance to close out their win a set earlier and were on the brink of defeat in the fifth but were able to come away with the win with set scores of 21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 24-26, and 17-15.

The final set was a comeback that was nearly one of the most unlikely as they trailed the Vikings 14-10 in the fifth set before scoring five-straight points to make it 15-14 and seven of the final eight points to win the set 17-15 behind three kills in that stretch from Stephen Lewandowski.

Lewandowski finished with nine kills on 19 attacks for a .421 hitting percentage, the best percentage on the team with the second-most kills behind Michael Jenkins who finished with 13 kills on 35 total attacks for a .171 hitting percentage in the match. Lewandowski also finished with four solo blocks and eight block assists to be in on 12 of the team's 18 blocks in the match.

Augustana's Aiden Bond was the match leader in kills as he finished with 14, just edging out Jenkins and his teammate Garrett McNelis who each had 13 in the match. The Vikings finished the match with 14 more team kills than the Pride at 56-42 but CU limited their errors on the attack with just 28 compared to 40 errors from Augustana.

Clarke men's volleyball will continue on the road to start their season as they'll be back in action with three matches next week starting with a road meeting inside the Heart of America Athletic Conference with William Penn University next Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 7:00 p.m. CT.