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This week
Augustana opens its 2011 campaign on the road this weekend at the Nebraska-Omaha Volleyball Showcase in Omaha, Neb. The two-day tournament begins Friday, and first up for the Vikings is Southeastern Oklahoma State at 2:30 p.m. followed by Arkansas-Fort Smith at 6:30 p.m. Competition for the Vikings resumes Saturday against Northwest Missouri State at 10 a.m. and Nebraska-Kearney at 2 p.m.
Watch it
Log onto the Nebraska-Omaha tournament homepage at www.omavs.com to follow live action of Augustana's matches this weekend. Links to livestats will be available as well as the complete tournament schedule and results.
Series records
The Vikings hold a 1-0 advantage all-time over Southeastern Oklahoma State, having defeated the Storm 3-0 at the Middle of Everywhere Classic in 2010. Friday will be the first time Augustana has faced Arkansas-Fort Smith in program history. Augustana leads the series against Northwest Missouri State 5-1 with the last meeting on Sept. 8, 2007, resulting in a 3-2 Viking victory. Augustana leads 6-5 in the series against Nebraska-Kearney. The Vikings have been defeated in the previous three meetings with UNK, and last season the Lopers handed Augustana a 3-0 loss.
Setter-U
Dani Haley (Owatonna, Minn.) will pilot the Viking offense in 2011 as Augustana's starting setter. Last season, Haley played in 94 sets for Augustana and was the Vikings' assists leader with 970. She recorded a career high 65 assists against Northern State in 2010.
Wallerich on the rise
Kayla Wallerich (Marshall, Minn.) is one of three returning Vikings to play in all 29 matches a year ago. With all that experience under her belt, the sophomore will play a vital part of Augustana's defense this season as she was third on the team in digs (232) in 2010. She led Augustana in service aces with 30.
Winning
Augustana has won all but two of its matches to open a season since the 2000 campaign. The two season-opening losses occured in 2007 and 2010 against Washburn and Mesa State, respectively. Augustana had a seven-match season-opening win streak that lasted from 2000 to 2006. Below is the list of Augustana's season-opening results since 2000.
Aug. 26, 2000 vs. Northern Michigan W 3-0
Aug. 24, 2001 vs. Eastern New Mexico W 3-1
Aug. 30, 2002 vs. Alaska-Anchorage W 3-0
Aug. 29, 2003 vs. #13 Metro State W 3-2
Aug. 27, 2004 vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville W 3-1
Aug. 26, 2005 vs. Southern Indiana W 3-0
Aug. 25, 2006 vs. Winona State W 3-0
Aug. 24, 2007 vs. #16 Washburn L 0-3
Aug. 29, 2008 vs. Eastern New Mexico W 3-0
Aug. 27, 2009 Regis (Colo.) W 3-1
Sept. 3, 2010 vs. Mesa State L 0-3
Vikings find talent for 2011
Head Coach
Ashley Buckley brings back a team in 2011 that includes three new additions. The Vikings welcome 6-foot right side hitter
Mikayla Gallagher (Ramsey, Minn.); 5-7 defensive specialist
Julia Witt (Hutchinson, Minn.), and 5-9 outside hitter
Courtney Ysker (Windom, Minn) to the roster. Gallagher played varsity as a sophomore, junior and senior and led her team to a 23-8 record in 2010, recording 262 kills, 123 digs, 54 aces, 41 blocks and 24 assists. Witt was a three-year letterwinner and led her team in digs during three consecutive seasons to pick up all-conference honorable-mention accolades as a junior. Ysker was a three-time Class A All-State first-team selection and a three-time All-Southwest Conference honoree while also helping guide her team to the state title as a sophomore.
NSIC pre-season honors
Grace Sanders (Lakeville, Minn.) was selected by the NSIC coaches as Augustana's preseason player to watch. She was an All-NSIC honorable selection last season after playing in all 29 matches and 103 sets. Sanders led the team with 589 digs (5.72 per set) and was second in service aces (26). She tallied a season-high 31 digs against Northern State on Oct. 23 and was named NSIC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 25.
History lesson
Augustana is in its 39th year of competition in 2011 and own an all-time record of 796-537-14. The Vikings have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances with the last one occurring in 2008.
Viking airtime
Augustana volleyball contests will air three times on Midco Sports Network in 2011. MidcoSN can be found on Channel 26 or 623 for Midcontinent Communications cable subscribers.
Oct. 25 Concordia University, St. Paul at Augustana
Nov. 4 Upper Iowa at Augustana
Nov. 5 Winona State at Augustana
Coaches' corner
The 2011 season marks
Ashley Buckley's fourth as Augustana's head volleyball coach. Buckley has compiled a career record of 51-44 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.
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
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.
