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This week
Augustana (13-9, 7-7 NSIC) has two chances to take down No. 4 Concordia University, St. Paul this week. The Vikings host the Golden Bears (22-1, 13-1 NSIC) at the Elmen Center on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and will take to the road Saturday to face them in St. Paul at 4 p.m. Augustana also has a match at St. Cloud State (5-17, 1-13 NSIC) on Friday at 7 p.m.
Bump, Set, Hike
The Augustana football and volleyball programs have teamed up for “Bump, Set, Hike” to raise awareness for breast cancer at last Saturday's football game and Tuesday's volleyball match. Both teams will recognize a group of breast-cancer survivors. The two programs have partnered with the Sanford Breast Health Institute to keep the dollars raised by this event local. To purchase a 'Bump, Set, Hike' t-shirt, contact Kasey Nikkel at kasey.nikkel@augie.edu or 605-274-5539.
On the tube
Fans have a chance to watch Augustana on television Tuesday in its match against Concordia University, St. Paul. The contest will be aired on Midco Sports Network with Jay Elsen handling play-by-play and Kevaney Martin providing color commentary. MidcoSN can be found on channels 26 or 622 for Midcontinent Communications subscribers.
Other places to catch the Vikings this week
Television isn't the only place where fans can follow Augustana live this week. Live stats and a video stream will be available to audiences during all three matches. The video stream is provided free of charge through New Media TV and can be found by logging onto www.nmtvsports.com.
Click
here for live stats vs. Concordia University, St. Paul.
Click
here for live stats at St. Cloud State.
Click
here for live stats at Concordia University, St. Paul
Last time out
Augustana lost its only match last week to then No. 9 Southwest Minnesota State. Brooke Burmeister registered 27 kills for SMSU to lead the Mustangs to a 3-1 (25-14, 25-20, 22-25, 25-21) victory over Augustana Tuesday evening. The Vikings came back with wins against U-Mary and Northern State.
Taylor Hrdlichka hit .611 with 11 kills to lead Augustana to a 25-19, 25-13, 25-20 sweep of U-Mary Friday evening. The following afternoon,
Jordan Spatenka fired a season-high 22 kills to spark Augustana to a 3-2 (23-25, 14-25, 28-26, 25-22, 15-13) win over NSU.
Series records
Augustana has just one win in its 13 meetings with Concordia University, St. Paul. The 3-0 win for the Vikings occurred in the teams' first meeting in 1988. Head coach
Ashley Buckley is 0-6 against CU, having dropped 3-0 to the Golden Bears twice last season. The Vikings are 40-21 against St. Cloud State. Augustana won 21-straight matches against the Huskies from 1999 to 2009. The Vikings had a 3-0 win over SCSU once in 2009 and turned around for a 3-0 loss later in the season. In 2010, the Vikings outlasted SCSU 3-2 at home and Augustana also defeated the Huskies 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 26-24) earlier this season at the MSU Moorhead Dragon Classic. Buckley is 5-1 against SCSU.
In it to win it
Despite falling 25-23 and 25-14 in the first two sets against Northern State last Saturday, Augustana fought back to win the next three sets 28-26, 25-22 and 15-13. The comeback victory was sparked by
Jordan Spatenka (Owatonna, Minn.), who registered a team season-high 22 kills and a .348 hitting percent in the match. Augustana was trailing 9-2 in the fifth set when the Vikings won 12 of the next 15 points to take a 14-12 lead. Spatenka recorded three kills for Augustana in its run.
Dani delivers
Dani Haley (Owatonna, Minn.) recorded 11.25 assists per set last week to help lead the Vikings to a strong offensive performance in all three matches. Haley tallied 52 assists and 14 digs against Northern State to mark her third double-double of the season. She also put away five kills with no errors and had one service ace in the match against NSU to make it her best outing of the week.
Lucky number 7
Augustana's 3-0 win over U-Mary Friday marked the seventh time this season the Vikings have swept a team.
Taylor Hrdlichka (Lakeville, Minn.) helped the Vikings surge past the Marauders, hitting a season-high .611 with 11 kills. She also had four blocks.
History lesson
Augustana is in its 39th year of competition in 2011 and own an all-time record of 809-546-14. The Vikings have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances with the last one occurring in 2008.
Coaches' corner
The 2011 season marks
Ashley Buckley's fourth as Augustana's head volleyball coach. Buckley has compiled a career record of 64-53 with the Vikings and is assisted by Kasey Nikkel, who is in her second season as a full-time assistant with the Augustana volleyball program. Also assisting Buckley is second-year graduate assistant coach Lisa Lunning and first-year volunteer coach Mitch Lunning.
What the coaches say
Augustana was picked sixth by the league coaches in the 2011 NSIC Preseason Poll released by the conference office. The Vikings received 106 points in the poll.
Rk Team (first-place votes) Points
1 Concordia, St. Paul (13) 169
2 Southwest Minnesota State (1) 146
3 Minnesota Duluth 143
4 Wayne State 142
5 Minnesota State 120
6 Augustana 106
7 Minnesota State Moorhead 93
8 St. Cloud State 81
Winona State 81
10 Northern State 55
Upper Iowa 55
12 Bemidji State 41
13 U-Mary 21
Minnesota, Crookston 21
Stay connected
It's easy to know the latest on Viking athletics. You can follow Augustana on its various social media outlets, including Twitter (twitter.com/GoAugie), Facebook (facebook.com/GoAugie) and YouTube (youtube.com/GoAugie). To learn more, visit GoAugie.com/stayconnected. For Augustana home broadcasts,
visit www.GoAugie.com/webcast.
Up next
Augustana begins a three-match homestand next week to end its regular season matches. On Nov. 4, the Vikings host Upper Iowa at 7 p.m., followed by Winona State on Nov. 5 at 5:30 p.m.
