BOX SCORE ST. PAUL, Minn. – Augustana couldn't quite muster enough to topple No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament and fell in three sets, 16-25, 16-25, 19-25. The Vikings overall record falls to 17-13 and the the Golden Bears advance to the second round while improving their record to 26-3.
Megan Bezdicek provided much of the offense for Augsutana, finishing with 10 kills and just one error for a .273 attack percentage.
Grace Sanders and
Courtney Ysker each scooped up 14 digs, but the hard-hitting Golden Bears hit .373 as a team for the entire match.
Katie Niesen dished out 24 assists, but the kills didn't fall and the Vikings compile 65 digs in three sets. As a team, Augsutana swung at a .175 clip with 32 kills.
A Taylor Dordan-led 6-0 run in the first set gave the Golden Bears an early cushion, but a balanced Viking attack wouldn't go away easy. Three points after a timeout kept the Vikings in the game at 16-13, but the Golden Bears were too much and took the set 25-16.
Megan Bezdicek led the Augustana attack with three kills, and three more Vikings tallied two each. Concordia-St. Paul held the Vikings to a .182 attack percentage with 24 digs in the first set.
After exchanging the first points, CU went on an early run again. The Vikings burned both their timeouts before the Golden Bears even reached 14 points. The Golden Bears ran away in the second set to a 25-16 victory.
The Vikings allowed 19 kills from the Golden Bears in the second set and a .381 attack percentage.
Holly Hafemeyer and Bezdicek once again led the Vikings with four and three kills, respectively.
In the third set, Augustana held a 10-7 lead before another big run by CU gave them a lead. The Vikings did not go away quietly before Concordia-St. Paul turned up the pressure and ended the set on a 8-3 run after Augustana cut the lead to one.
The Vikings, ranked 10
th in the latest Central Region rankings, now have to wait for the NCAA selection show on Sunday evening to see if they will make the top eight teams in the Central Region and participate in the NCAA tournament.
- Video footage was provided by Concordia Television Productions
