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This week
Augustana (16-11, 10-9 NSIC) closes out its conference schedule at home Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 10 Wayne State (22-7, 15-4).
Last time out
Dani Haley handed out 64 assists and
Jordan Spatenka smashed a career-high 25 kills to lead Augustana to a 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 25-15, 24-26, 15-8) win over Upper Iowa last Friday night. A combined 39 kills from
Holly Hafemeyer and
Jordan Spatenka led Augustana to a 3-0 (33-31, 25-16, 25-18) victory over Winona State the following evening.
Watch it live
Fans can follow Augustana live on Friday night by viewing live stats or a video stream. The video stream is provided free of charge through New Media TV and can be found by logging onto
www.GoAugie.com/webcast. Visit
www.GoAugie.com/livestats to view live stats for Augustana's home matches.
Series records
Augustana increased its lead to 21-11-1 in the series against No. 10 Wayne State earlier in the season with a 3-2 (25-18, 25-19, 18-25, 21-25, 15-12) road victory over the Wildcats. The Vikings snapped a four-game losing streak with the win and head coach
Ashley Buckley moved to 2-5 against the Wildcats.
Tough tests
The Vikings' are 1-7 this season against ranked opponents. Augustana's only win against a ranked team in 2011 happened on Sept. 27 when the Vikings outlasted No. 10 Wayne State for a 3-2 victory.
Dani Haley (Owatonna, Minn.) tallied 61 assists,
Jordan Spatenka (Owatonna, Minn.) smashed 21 kills,
Holly Hafemeyer (Faribault, Minn.) added five blocks and
Courtney Ysker (Windom, Minn.) notched a career-high 24 digs.
Owatonna stars
Dani Haley (Owatonna, Minn.) was named Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Setter of the Week and
Jordan Spatenka (Owatonna, Minn.) was deemed NSIC Offensive Player of the Week after leading Augustana to a 2-0 record last weekend, the league office announced Monday. Haley, a junior, averaged 14.25 assists per set for a total of 114 to help Augustana's offense to a .327 attack percent and wins over Upper Iowa and Winona State. Haley was one assist shy of tying her career-record, racking up 64 assists in the Vikings' five-setter against UIU. She also added one kill and 11 digs. In Augustana's match against Winona State she had 50 assists, nine digs and three blocks. Spatenka, also a junior, averaged 5.12 kills per set in the two matches. She hit at a .440 clip and pounded out 41 kills during the weekend. In Augustana's five-set win against UIU, Spatenka registered a careerhigh 25 kills and recorded a .429 attack percent. She put down another 16 kills and had no errors to hit .457 in a 3-0 victory against WSU. She added four digs during the weekend.
NSIC honors
Holly Hafemeyer (Faribault, Minn.) and
Jordan Spatenka (Owatonna, Minn.) have been selected to the All-NSIC team, the league office announced Tuesday. A sophomore middle blocker, Hafemeyer has started all 27 matches for the Vikings this season. She is currently fourth in the NSIC, hitting at a .321 clip. Hafemeyer leads Augustana with a .321 attack percentage and has hit better than .300 in 17 matches this season. The sophomore is second on the team in kills, averaging 3.26 per set to total 310 so far in 2011. She is also a defensive force for the Vikings with 98 blocks on the year. Other season totals for Hafemeyer include 50 digs, six assists and five service aces. Spatenka is a junior outside hitter and has been an offensive powerhouse for Augustana, racking up 3.34 kills per set to lead the Vikings with a total of 327 this season. She is seventh in the conference with 3.46 kills per set.
Defending their court
Augustana has outhit its opponents on its home court .250 to .237 in 2011 for a 5-4 record.
Holly Hafemeyer (Faribault,Minn.) leads
Jordan Spatenka (Owatonna, Minn.) by just one kill, smashing 131 to Spatenka's 130 to help Augustana to a total of 498 kills in the Elmen Center. The Vikings' opponents have recorded 479.
Kayla Wallerich (Marshall, Minn.) has racked up 157 attacks, tallying a career-high 30 last weekend at home against Upper Iowa.
Dani Haley (Owatonna, Minn.) is averaging 12.44 assists per set at home for a total of 336.
History lesson
Augustana is in its 39th year of competition in 2011 and own an all-time record of 812-548-14. 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 67-55 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
The Vikings look to extend their winning string to three matches on Friday to finish regular season play for the year.
