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This week
Augustana (10-5, 4-3 NSIC) returns home for conference action against No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State (12-4, 6-1 NSIC) on Friday at 7 p.m. and No. 19 Minnesota State (10-5, 3-4 NSIC) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Watch us live
To follow Augustana volleyball live this weekend, click
here for live stats or wach a video stream by clicking
here.
Last time out
The Vikings used a season-high 71 kills, 67 assists and 111 digs to upset then No. 10 Wayne State 3-2 last Tuesday. Augustana went out last Friday and fought for a 3-1 victory over Bemidji State before dropping 3-0 to No. 4 Minnesota Duluth Saturday.
Series records
Augustana's series history with Southwest Minnesota State dates back to 1973, and the Vikings lead the series 28-20-1. Augustana's 25-match win-streak against the Mustangs was snapped on Sept. 25, 2005, and the Vikings have yet to pull out another victory, dropping the previous nine matches. Last season, the Vikings faced SMSU twice. The first meeting resulted in a 3-0 victory for the then No. 3 SMSU and in the second meeting the then sixth-ranked Mustangs edged a 3-2 win on Augustana's home court. The Vikings lead the series against Minnesota State 30-25 but haven't had a win recently against the Mavericks with losses in the last four meetings. In 2010, the then No. 16 MSU swept Augustana 3-0.
Ashley Buckley is 0-6 and 1-4 in the series against SMSU and MSU, respectively.
Holy Hafemeyer
Sophomore middle blocker
Holly Hafemeyer (Fairbault, Minn.) was a stud on the court last week and reset three individual single-match highs. She started out the week recording 41 attacks against Wayne State and followed up the performance smashing 20 kills and hitting .474 against Bemidji State. These aren't the only match records Hafemeyer has broken this season. Below is a breakdown of all Hafemeyer's single-match highs this season.
Hafemeyer's single-match highs set in 2011
Kills 20 at Bemidji State on Sep 30, 2011
Attacks 41 at Wayne State on Sep 27, 2011
Attack % .474 (20-2-38) at Bemidji State on Sep 30, 2011
Assists 2 vs Minot State on Sep 09, 2011
Serve aces 1 vs SE Oklahoma State on Sep 02, 2011
Digs 4 at Wayne State, on Nov. 12, 2010 and at Wayne State on Sep 27, 2011
Set it up
Dani Haley (Owatonna, Minn.) currently ranks fifth in the NSIC in assists, averaging 10.86 assists per set. She recorded a season-high 61 assists against Wayne State, just four assists shy of her career high. The junior has totaled 2,018 career assists for a spot at No. 8 in the Augustana record book.
Hills and valleys
It was a week of highs and lows for Augustana as the Vikings began play on Tuesday against Wayne State setting four team season highs and finishing play on Saturday recording three team season lows against Minnesota Duluth. The Vikings tallied an impressive 71 kills, 216 attack attempts, 111 digs and 67 assists against the Wildcats, but fell short against the Bulldogs with only 28 kills, 25 assists and 35 digs.
Tough tests
Augustana will have played five top-25 teams this season after facing No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State and No. 19 Minnesota State this weekend. Four of these tough tests for the Vikings have come in the last two weeks. Currently, the Vikings hold a 1-2 record against top-25 teams, losing to then No. 6 Nebraska-Kearney on Sept. 3, 3-0 but notching a 3-2 victory over then No. 10 Wayne State on Sept. 27 before dropping to the then No. 4 Minnesota Duluth on Oct 1.
It's been awhile
The last time Augustana had a victory against Wayne State was on Nov. 11, 2008. WSC was ranked No. 23 at the time and the Vikings defeated the Wildcats in five sets by scores of 25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 25-17, 15-7. WSC was riding a four-match win streak against Augustana prior to its loss last Tuesday.
Coaches' corner
The 2011 season marks
Ashley Buckley's fourth as Augustana's head volleyball coach. Buckley has compiled a career record of 61-49 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.
History lesson
Augustana is in its 39th year of competition in 2011 and own an all-time record of 806-542-14. The Vikings have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances with the last one occurring in 2008.
In twenty ten
Augustana finished seventh in the NSIC last season with a conference record of 10-10. The Vikings were 14-15 overall.
Dani Haley,
Grace Sanders and
Jordan Spatenka led the team in assists (970), digs (589) and kills (266), respectively, for the second consecutive season.
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.
Video webcasts
The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and New Media Television have again teamed up to webcast each conference volleyball game in 2011. A complete broadcast schedule is available at www.northernsun.org.
Up next
Next Friday Augustana hosts Minnesota State Moorhead at 7 p.m. followed by Minnesota, Crookston on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
