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This week
Augustana (6-4, 0-2 NSIC) is at home for the first time in 2011, welcoming Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foes U-Mary (2-9, 1-2 NSIC) and Northern State (6-4, 1-2 NSIC) to the Elmen Center. The Vikings will play U-Mary Friday at 7 p.m. and NSU Saturday at 3 p.m.
Last time out
It was a rough weekend on the road for Augustana as the Vikings opened conference action dropping a pair of matches. The Vikings were held to a .127 hitting percentage for a 3-0 (26-24,25-23,25-13) loss to Upper Iowa last Friday and only hit .146 against Winona State to be defeated 3-1 (25-15,17-25,25-12,25-19) last Saturday.
Series records
In Augustana's five meetings in the series with U-Mary, the Vikings have yet to drop a match to the Marauders. In fact,
Ashley Buckley hasn't even lost a set to U-Mary in the four times she has faced the Marauders as head coach of the Vikings. Augustana first began playing Northern State in 1972 and the Vikings lead the series 15-5-2. The first time the Vikings faced NSU in 2010, Augustana had a 3-1 victory. The Vikings were defeated 3-2 at home by the Wolves in the second meeting last season.
Spike it, Spatenka
Jordan Spatenka (Owatonna, Minn.) notched a total of 19 kills (2.71 per set) last weekend to lead Augustana's offense. The 11 kills she smashed against Winona State was a team high. The previous evening, Spatenka and
Brooke Lewko (Lakeville, Minn.) tied for the team high with eight kills.
Gaining experience
Freshman
Julia Witt (Hutchinson, Minn.) has become a common fixture on the court for the Vikings this season, making appearances in all 10 matches and in 26 of 33 sets. In Augustana's match against Winona State, Witt was one dig away from tying her season-high 14 digs set on Sept. 10 against MSU Moorhead.
Double trouble
Courtney Ysker (Windom, Minn.) is the third Viking of the season to have her name added to the list of double-doubles. Last Saturday, she fired 10 kills and dug up 13 balls against Winona State.
Lindsey Petersen (Elkhart, Iowa) and
Kayla Wallerich (Marshall, Minn.) have also earned a spot on the list of Viking double-doubles found on page 4.
Diggin' for defense
Augustana has had help defensively from various Vikings. Last weekend,
Christine Bielski (Chaska, Minn.) was defensively the strongest Viking, totaling 33 digs (4.71 per set) in the pair of matches.
Kayla Wallerich (Marshall, Minn.) has also been a defensive force for Augustana this season, but is currently taking over as the lead setter on the team. She amassed 61 assists (8.71 per set) last weekend.
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.
Coaches' corner
The 2011 season marks
Ashley Buckley's fourth as Augustana's head volleyball coach. Buckley has compiled a career record of 57-48 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.
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
History lesson
Augustana is in its 39th year of competition in 2011 and own an all-time record of 802-541-14. 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
Augustana returns to the road next week. The Vikings travel south next Tuesday to play Wayne State at 7 p.m. before heading north to face Bemidji State Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. and Minnesota Duluth Oct. 1 at 4 p.m.
