MATCH NOTES
This week: The Augustana volleyball team (1-3, 0-0 NSIC) travels to Kearney, Neb., on Wednesday to play Nebraska-Kearney at the Health and Sports Center. After a match up against the Lopers, the Vikings will hit the the road again to play in the “Middle of Everywhere” Classic in Rolla, Mo. The Vikings will square off against four teams beginning with Chadron State and Southeastern Oklahoma State on Friday. Augustana will then play Arkansas-Monticello and Rockhurst on Saturday.
Match times:?The Vikings' match against Nebraska-Kearney is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Augustana's first match at the “Middle of Everywhere” Classic starts at 10 a.m against Chadron State on Friday followed by a 2 p.m. match with Southeastern Oklahoma State. Saturday's match against Arkansas-Monticello will begin at 11 a.m. Augustana concludes the tournament at 3 p.m. against Rockhurst. All times are central.
Series records: The upcoming match against the Lopers marks the eighth meeting between Augustana and Nebraska-Kearney. The Vikings lead the series 5-3 with the last meeting occurring in Sioux Falls, Sept. 2, 2009, in which Augustana fell 3-0. Augustana has faced Chadron State twice. The Vikings were defeated by Chadron State in 1979 during the first meeting and beat the Eagles last season 3-0. This will be the first time Augustana squares off against Southeastern Oklahoma State, Arkansas-Monticello and Rockhurst.
Last week: It was a weekend to build upon for the Vikings as they went 1-3 at the Oredigger Classic in Golden, Colo. The Vikings picked up their lone win against Slippery Rock University (3-0) and lost to Mesa State (3-0), Colorado School of Mines (3-1) and Fort Lewis (3-1).
Force of the freshmen: Outside hitter Lindsey Peterson (Elkhart, Iowa) and setter/defensive specialist
Kayla Wallerich (Marshall, Minn.) are two freshman for the Vikings that were forces to be reckoned with last weekend at the Oredigger Classic. Peterson saw a .400 hitting percentage with five kills in her career-opening match against Mesa State last Saturday. Overall, Peterson recorded a .197 hitting percentage for the weekend, tallying 3.31 kills per set during the four matches. Wallerich made her freshman debut by totalling an outstanding 109 assists (7.79 per set) in four matches. The newcomer saw her best match over the weekend against the Colorado School of Mines when she recorded 45 assists. Wallerich also tallied 35 assists against Slippery Rock.
Sophomore star: Returning sophomore libero
Grace Sanders (Lakeville, Minn.) shown brightly at the Oredigger Classic racking up 85 (6.07 per set) digs over the four-match weekend.
Who's back: Lone senior
Brianna Erickson (Gurnee, Ill.) will help lead the Vikings through the 2010 season. Erickson captained the team in 2009 and was second on the team in blocks per set with 0.95 in 2009. Along with Erickson, Augustana returns eight players.
Who's new: The Vikings welcome four new faces to this season's roster. Christine Beliski (Chaska, Minn.),
Kayla Wallerich (Marshall, Minn.) and
Holly Hafemeyer (Fairbault, Minn.) are all Minnesota natives, while Lindsey Peterson (Elkhart, Iowa) comes to Augustana from Iowa.
Moving up: In 2009 Kasey Loeslie came to Augustana to work alongside head coach
Ashley Buckley as a graduate assistant coach. This season Loeslie is back to serve her first year as a full-time assistant coach for the Vikings.
Looking back: Last season, the Vikings finished seventh in the NSIC with a conference record of 9-11. Augustana's overall record for the 2009 season was 14-18 and marked the first time since 1995 that Augustana didn't make the NCAA tournament. Sophomore standout
Jordan Spatenka led the Vikings in kills last season with 23, while
Grace Sanders recorded team high 32 digs.
Dani Haley was first on the team in assists, tallying 50.
Coaches' corner: Ashley Buckley enters her third season as head coach and owns a career record of 38-32. She has guided the Viking to one NCAA?Tournament appearance and has coached three All-NSIC performers. Kasey Loeslie is in her second year as an assistant coach. Coaching along with Buckley and Loeslie is first year graduate assistant coach Lisa Hough.
Players to watch: Sophomore outside hitter
Jordan Spatenka was named a Preseason Player to Watch in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll. She had 154 kills and 33 blocks last season.
History lesson: Augustana is in its 38th year of competition in 2010. The Vikings own an all-time record of 785-528-14. The Vikings have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, with the last one occurring in 2008.
What the coaches say: Augustana was picked to finish sixth in the conference by the 14 NSIC head coaches in their annual preseason poll. Augustana received 104 points in the poll. Concordia University, St. Paul's 11 first-place votes makes for the seventh consecutive season it has been selected as the top preseason team. Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State, Wayne State and Southwest Minnesota State came in ahead of the Vikings.
Team (first-place votes) Points
1. Concordia, St. Paul (11) 166
2. Minnesota Duluth (2) 147
3. Minnesota State (1) 142
4. Wayne State 136
5. Southwest Minnesota State 134
6. Augustana 104
7. MSU Moorhead 95
8. Winona State 76
9. Upper Iowa 73
10. Northern State 62
11. St. Cloud State 54
12. Bemidji State 41
13. Minnesota, Crookston 25
14. U-Mary 19
Stay connected: Stay connected with Augustana volleyball all season long at www.GoAugie.com. The Vikings are also on Facebook and Twitter; just log onto www.facebook.com/GoAugie and www..twitter.com/GoAugie. To catch even more Viking action log onto Augustana's official YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/GoAugie.
Action packed: Live statistics of the games can be viewed by logging onto www.GoAugie.com/livestats.
Watch it: All NSIC volleyball matches will be webcast live and free of charge on the Penn Atlantic Network. Fans wanting to follow the action can go to the following link: www.pennatlantic.com.
Up next: On Sept. 17 the Vikings welcome Upper Iowa to the Elmen Center to begin conference play. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m.
