Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Feb. 20, 2026) – The North Central College men's volleyball team fell in its College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) opening contest against Augustana College in four sets on Friday night in Rock Island. Jonathan Brown tied for the seventh most digs in a four-set match in program history with 15 in the loss.
Augustana (5-3, 1-0 CCIW) opened the first set on a 9-2 run. The Vikings used this early separation to keep the Cardinals at bay, as the Augustana advantage the rest of the way was never lower than five. North Central mustered just seven kills in the set and committed six errors on its 34 attacks, for a hitting percentage of 0.029.
The second set was full of Cardinal dominance, as North Central (6-6, 0-1) claimed it 25-13. A Brannen Almarales kill, and a free ball finish by PJ Vaughan gave the Cardinals an early 8-5 advantage. An Ace by Connor Davis, a few rallies later, gave the Cardinals an 11-7 lead with an ace. The lead grew back to four later in the set, after Mitchell Hester slammed home a set by PJ Vaughan to go up 14-10.
North Central would proceed to go on an 11-3 run to end the set that saw a four-point run at the back line by Evan Page, and a five-point run from Almarales.
The second set was the Cardinals' best set statistically, finishing 11 swings compared to only 3 errors, earning a 0.267 hitting percentage.
Augustana flipped the script in the third set, winning 25-14. The Cardinals opened the set with a 3-0 lead after back-to-back aces from Vaughan. The Vikings responded in kind, rattling off an 8-1 run to go up 8-5. The runs did not stop there for the Vikings, finishing the set on a 12-4 scoring spurt to win the set.
The fourth set was the most competitive of the bunch, as a late North Central push came up just short, and the Vikings won the match-clinching set 25-21.
Augustana grew an early 10-4 lead, but coach Kevin Kustura's team chipped away, getting the lead down to three after a pair of errors by the Vikings (14-11). Augustana grew its advantage to 20-15 with a kill from Bryce Lawson. The Cardinals got the lead back down to three after a solo rejection by Hester made the score 22-19 in favor of the Vikings.
A few rallies later, a kill from Hester and an error by the Vikings had brought the Augustana advantage down to just two (23-21), but that's as close as it would get, with the Cardinals conceding the next two points to lose the set 25-21, and the match 3-1.
Augustana was led by Lawson's 13 kills and .357 hitting percentage. Colin Schaefer distributed 40 assists for the Vikings while Colin Alvers led the defensive effort with 13 digs.
The North Central attack was paced by Almarales and Elijah Landeros, who finished with nine kills each. Vaughan had 26 assists on the night to go along with two kills, a pair of aces, and a block. Brown's 15 digs tie him for the seventh-most digs in a four-set match in program history. Jefferey McEachern finished the night with 10 digs, while Almarales and Davis both contributed four blocks to the defensive effort.
North Central is back in action on Wednesday as it hits the road to take on No. 11 Loras College in a CCIW affair.
