Box Score
The Augustana volleyball team rallied behind the support of its home crowd to sweep Minnesota State University, Mankato, 25-20, 25-17, 25-21 Tuesday night at the Elmen Center, snapping the Vikings' 4-match losing streak.
The 20th-ranked Vikings relied on a balanced offensive attack and strong defense to earn their first win in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. The Vikings improved to 8-5 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC, while MSU slipped to 5-7 overall and 0-1 in the NSIC.
The first set was a rollercoaster for Augustana. Before the home crowd could get settled into their seats, Minnesota State had reeled off 6 straight points to take a 6-0 lead. But Augustana fought back and eventually tied the score at 8-8.
Neither team led by more than 4 points until the score was knotted at 20-20. That's when freshman
Alex Burke took over. Burke teamed with
Ellen Andrews for a block and then pounded 2 kills to give the Vikings a 23-20 lead. Following a kill by Andrews,
Lisa Hoegh served an ace to end the set.
Augustana increased its offensive attack in the second set as the Vikings had 14 kills and just 3 attack errors. Meanwhile, MSU struggled with 10 kills and 8 errors as Augie grabbed the early 9-3 lead and never looked back.
The Vikings never trailed in the third set. While the score was close early on, the hosts began to pull away midway through the set, eventually icreasing their lead to 20-14. The Mavericks made a late push, but
Beth Talcott ended the comeback and the match when she hammered home an overpass on match point.
For the match, Augustana had 4 players with at least 7 kills. Talcott led the way with 10, while
Cayla Schroeder tossed in 9 to go along with a match-high 21 digs. Burke also had 9 kills and
Kati Newgard chipped in with 7.
Libero
Jenna Hultgren contributed 16 digs while Talcott added 12. Hoegh, who also had 36 assists, and
Brianna Erickson each had 11 digs. Burke was involved in 4 of the Vikings' 6 blocks.
For MSU, the Mavericks had just 28 kills in the match and finished with a .066 attack percentage. Ally Kwikkel led MSU with 9 kills, while Danielle Zimmerman had a team-high 17 digs.
Augustana will head back on the road this week for a pair of NSIC matches. The Vikings play at the University of Mary on Friday at 7 p.m. and at Northern State on Saturday at 4 p.m.