Box Score
The Augustana volleyball team narrowly missed upsetting the No. 10-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks Saturday at the Elmen Center. Augie lost set one 25-19 before battling back to win set two 25-21. Minnesota State took set three 25-16 while Augie forced a set five by winning the fourth 25-13. The Vikings then fell in the last set 15-6.
The Vikings fall to 11-14 with the loss, and are 6-7 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. Minnesota State improves to 22-4 and 12-2 in the NSIC.
The Mavericks built a lead in the first set, leading at 15-8 thanks to an Augie attack error. The Vikings were able to pull to within two at 16-14 thanks to a serving run by freshman setter
Dani Haley. The Vikings would never get close again and Minnesota State’s Samantha Dale sealed the win with a service ace at 25-19.
Set two remained tight the entire way, with Augie holding a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. The Vikings started to pull away, and a service ace by defensive specialist
Melanie Twait forced Minnesota State to take a timeout at 20-16. Augie was able to hold that lead and an attack error by the Mavericks gave them the 25-21 win.
The teams battled evenly in set three until Minnesota State put together two serving runs that gave them a 17-10 advantage. Another run by Minnesota State’s Chelsea Fogarty put the Mavericks up 22-12. Augie was unable to put together a comeback and lost 25-16.
Augie turned the tables in the fourth match, overcoming a 0-4 deficit to take a 10-6 lead thanks to a seven point serving run by freshman outside
Megan Bezdicek. The Mavericks pulled to within one at 13-12 on a Viking attack error, but senior outside
Jenna Hultgren served 10 points in a row after the media timeout to give Augie a 23-12 lead. The Mavericks would only score one more point as the Vikings won 25-13. Augie put up a huge defensive stand in that set, collecting six team blocks, all of which junior middle
Brianna Erickson participated in.
Minnesota State came out hot in set five, taking a 4-1 lead thanks to a service ace by Samantha Dale. They continued to build their advantage and back-to-back kills by Amanda Beekman plus a service ace by Kimber Kuhl gave them a 12-5 lead. The gap proved to be too great for the Vikings as the Mavericks took set five 15-6.
Freshman outside
Chantel Tengwall recorded a career-high 12 kills and four blocks in tonight’s match. Erickson’s 9 blocks tied her career high and Hultgren recorded a career-high 23 digs.
The Vikings will hit the road again next weekend as they travel to Concordia-St. Paul for a 7 p.m. matchup on Friday before taking on St. Cloud State at 4 p.m. on Saturday.