BOX SCORE SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Augustana continued its struggles with Concordia-St. Paul and lost to the second-ranked Golden Bears in straight sets 25-19, 25-18, 25-23. The Vikings overall record falls to 16-9, 10-6 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action and CU improves to 20-3 on the season, 14-2 in NSIC competition.
Augustana falls to 1-16 all-time against Concordia-St. Paul including an 0-7 mark in NSIC games. The Vikings remain in a logjam in the conference standings with their 10-6 NSIC record but are still in the top eight which would advance them to conference tournament.
The first set was tight until CU went on a 7-0 run and closed out the Vikings for a 25-19 set win. Augustana and the Golden Bears were tied at 16-16 before the CU run began, forcing the Vikings to use both timeouts. Concordia-St. Paul hit .359 as a team in the first set but
Holly Hafemeyer led the Vikings with five kills.
After playing to an 8-8 tie, the Golden Bears slowly put away the Vikings 25-18 in the second set. CU hit .552 on 18 kills and just 2 errors while the Vikings hit .241 in the second set, but with only 11 kills.
Taylor Hrdlichka carried the Vikings in the second with five error-free kills.
Several comeback attempts fell short for the Vikings in the third set and the Golden Bears took the match with a 25-23 third-set win. Hrdlichka once again kept the Vikings in the set with seven kills in the third set and finished with 14 and a career-high .619 hitting percentage.
Hafemeyer was the only other Vikings to reach double-digit kills with 10 and was helped by
Marissa Johnson's 33 set assists.
Courtney Ysker struggled offensively, but did scoop up 14 digs, a match high. Four different Golden Bears tallied at least 10 kills and collectively hit .339 as a team.
The Vikings now host cross-town rival University of Sioux Falls for a Thursday-night showdown at the Elmen Center on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.
