ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's volleyball team dropped a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin match at Augustana College Wednesday night, March 6, in four sets. IWU dropped to 10-8 on the season and 1-2 in CCIW play with the setback, while Augie used set scores of 25-12, 26-24, 21-25, and 25-22 to 14-2 overall and 1-1 in the CCIW.

Junior Vince DiCosola (Aurora, Ill.-Oswego East) became the first Titan in program history to surpass the 1,000 assist mark. The junior finished the match with a team-high 17. 

Leading the offense, freshman Bryce Williams (Chicago, Ill.-Whitney M. Young) posted nine kills to lead the Green and White, while seniors Michael Eastman (Chicago, Ill.-Saint Ignatius) and Julian Perez (Orland Park, Ill.-Carl Sandburg) finished with seven and six, respectively. Freshman Brenden Reutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) logged 16 assists to follow DiCosola. Eastman and senior Alec Mucha (Geneva, Ill.-Geneva) notched three aces apiece, with Mucha also adding a team-best four blocks. Eastman paced the defense with six digs, while a trio of Titans accumulated five. 

The Titans overcame a slow start to finish with 36 kills on 106 attempts, good for a .113 clip. Augustana notched 42 kills on a .163 attacking percentage, while also adding advantages in digs (39-31), blocks (7-5), and assists (40-36). IWU held a 9-7 lead in service aces, but was plagued by 19 serving errors. 

Illinois Wesleyan could not stop the Augustana attack in the opening set, as the Vikings hit a whopping .526 to take it by a score of 25-12.

The Titans responded in the second, fighting back to tie the set late. After trailing by four, 22-18, Eastman picked up an ace to get the Green and White on track. IWU scored two of the next three points on a kill from Williams and an Augie error to level the score at 23 all and force a Viking timeout.

Out of the reset, a service error saw Augustana push to set point, 24-23, but Williams came  back with another kill to knot the score. IWU ran out of steam there as a service error and attacking error gave Augie the set, 26-24.

IWU extended the match with a gutsy, 25-21, win in the third. The Titans led by as many as six in the set, as Mucha's ace gave IWU a 17-11 advantage. The Vikings were far from done though, as Augie clawed back to tie the set at 21-21. The Green and White then used a trio of Augie errors and a block from Williams, Mucha, and Perez to force a fourth set.

Augustana raced out to a 7-1 lead in the fourth. IWU battled back within two late, but could not get any closer as the Vikings took the set, 25-22. 

The Titans travel to Kenosha, Wis. this Saturday, March 9, for a 3 p.m. first serve against 10th-ranked Carthage College inside Tarble Arena.