AUGUSTANA VS. ST. CLOUD
AUGUSTANA VS. MSU MOORHEAD
MOORHEAD, Minn. - In the final day of the MSU Moorhead Dragon Classic, Augustana cruised to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 26-24) win over St. Cloud State and the Vikings edged a 3-1 (25-21, 25-13, 21-25, 25-22) win over MSU Moorhead to finish the tournament undefeated.
The Vikings improve to 6-2 overall (0-0 NSIC) with a pair of 3-0 wins over Minnesota, Crookston (25-20, 25-11, 25-17) and Minot State (25-13, 25-12, 25-12) Friday.
Jordan Spatenka recorded 14 kills and no errors to hit .519 in the Vikings' match against SCSU.
In the opening set, the score was tightly knit until Augustana went on a five-point run to earn a 16-11 lead. The Vikings went on to close out the set 25-19 and had 14 kills, hitting .462.
Augustana began the second set with a four-point run. SCSU then earned a point on a Viking service error, but Augustana came back winning the next six points. The Vikings never lost the lead, taking the set 25-17.
The Vikings held a lead in the final set of the match until SCSU went up 11-10. The Huskies were able to keep its lead until Augustana had a run of five points at 21-24 that began with a SCSU attack error.
Holly Hafemeyer and Spatenka each had two kills each to earn the final four points for a 26-24 Viking win.
Kayla Wallerich had 31 assists and
Christine Bielski totaled 15 digs in the match.
Augustana and MSUM's score was tied 5-5 in the first set until the Vikings took the lead off a kill by Spatenka.
Brooke Lewko smashed a kill for the Vikings to give Augustana a definitive 14-8 advantage. The Dragons never took a lead in the set but at 16-22 MSUM made an effort at a comeback, winning four points in a row. Augustana finished the set 25-21.
In the second set MSUM took an early 4-1 lead, before Augustana had a five-point run to go ahead 6-4. A kill by
Mikayla Gallagher gave the Vikings a 19-11 lead. Augustana only let the Dragons tally two more points in the set for the Vikings to win 25-13.
MSUM regained strength in the third set, allowing the Vikings to win just three of the first ten points. The Vikings attempted to take a lead while trailing 10-5 with
Lindsey Petersen, Lewko and Wallerich all recording one kill. Augustana remained within reach of taking the lead throughout the set but failed to capitalize on its opportunities, falling 25-21 to the Dragons.
The Vikings gave MSUM the lead in the second set until Wallerich recorded a kill to knot the score 17-17. With the score tied 19-19, Augustana won three straight points ending with a kill by Hrdlichka. MSUM nailed a service ace to tie the score 22-22 before the Vikings finished strong with two kills and a Dragon attack error to take the set 25-22. Augustana held MSUM to a .044 hitting percentage in the final set.
Wallerich had an impressive 47 assists to set a career high.
Spatenka led the team in kills again in the final match, collecting 15 with three errors to hit .245.
Bielski had 24 digs to also set a career high.
The Vikings continue action on the road to open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play Sept. 16 and 17 against Upper Iowa (7 p.m.) and Winona State (4 p.m.).
