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This week
Augustana (8-4, 2-2 NSIC) has three conference matches on the road this week. The Vikings face No. 10 Wayne State (10-3, 3-1 NSIC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Wayne, Neb., before traveling to Bemidji, Minn., to play against Bemidji State (4-10, 1-5 NSIC) Friday at 7 p.m. The week concludes on Saturday when Augustana takes to the court against No. 4 Minnesota Duluth (14-0, 6-0 NSIC) at 4 p.m.
Last time out
Augustana put on a perfect performance at home last week, winning six-straight sets to sweep both U-Mary and Northern State 3-0.
Series records
Augustana leads the series against Wayne State 20-11-1; however, WSC has defeated the Vikings in seven of the last nine meetings since 2005. The last time the Vikings picked up a win against the Wildcats was on Nov. 11, 2008, when Augustana edged a 3-2 victory. Last season, WSC had a 3-0 and a 3-2 victory over the Vikings.
Ashley Buckley is 1-5 against the Wildcats. The Vikings first faced Bemidji State in 1983 and Augustana leads the series 14-3. Augustana hosted the Beavers last season for a 3-1 victory. Buckley is 4-1 when facing BSU. Augustana is 8-27 in the series with Minnesota Duluth. Buckley has had one of the two wins Augustana has recorded against UMD since the year 2000. In 2010, the Vikings pushed the Bulldogs to five sets but were unable to capture the win, falling 15-13 in the final set.
Ranked
Augustana will face two opponents ranked among the top 25 in the nation this week. Minnesota Duluth is ranked No. 4 and Wayne State checked in at No. 10 in this week's AVCA Poll released Monday. The Vikings are 0-1 against ranked teams so far this season, having lost 3-0 to then No. 6 Nebraska-Kearney at the Nebraska Omaha Showcase.
Five stars
Brooke Lewko (Lakeville, Minn.),
Taylor Hrdlichka (Lakeville, Minn.),
Jordan Spatenka (Owatonna, Minn.),
Holly Hafemeyer (Faribault, Minn.) and
Courtney Ysker (Windom, Minn.) all recorded double-digit kills for Augustana last week. Leading the pack was Spatenka. She totaled 25 kills (4.17 per set) and hit .392. Spatenka's best match was against U-Mary when she smashed 16 kills and hit .419. Close behind was Hrdlichka, who hit .400 with 20 kills (3.33 per set). She led the team offensively against Northern State with 10 kills and no errors to hit .455.
Dish it out
Dani Haley (Owatonna, Minn.) handed out 44 assists against U-Mary to help the Vikings hit .322 in the match. She passed out another 35 assists against Northern State to record 79 total assists for the weekend. She also had two service aces and tallied seven kills, 19 digs and three blocks during the two matches.
Hold it
Augustana's defense allowed its opponents to hit just .181 last week. The Vikings combined for 107 digs and had 10 blocks.
Coaches' corner
The 2011 season marks
Ashley Buckley's fourth as Augustana's head volleyball coach. Buckley has compiled a career record of 59-48 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 804-541-14. 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
The Vikings will play at home for four matches. First up, is Southwest Minnesota State on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. followed by Minnesota State on Oct. 8 at 3 p.m. On Oct. 14 and 15, the Vikings will host Minnesota State Moorhead and Minnesota, Crookston, respectively.
