ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Augustana College volleyball team beat St. Cloud State Friday night in four sets with scores of 28-26, 25-18, 23-25, and 25-21.

With the win, the Vikings' record improved to 16-9 (9-8 NSIC), while the Huskies dropped to 7-17 (1-15 NSIC).

Sophomore Brittany Cech paced Augustana's offense tying a career high with 16 kills. Ashley Wilson finished second on the team with 11.

Bailey Koch added 10 kills to round out the top three double-digit performances on the night. Koch recorded a team-best .471 (10-2-17) attack percentage in the four-set victory.

Defensively, it was freshman libero Tahlyr Banks leading the Vikings with 22 digs. Setter Marissa Johnson tallied a team-best 46 assists.

Courtney Ysker recorded nine kills.

Augustana opened the match jumped out to an early 6-3 lead before the Huskies followed by going on a 4-0 run to gain a 7-6 lead. St. Cloud State took 11 out of the next 14 points to push ahead 18-12. The Vikings went on a 5-0 run late in the set to jump ahead 21-20, but the Huskies went back on a 3-0 run to move ahead 23-21. Augustana regained focus, grabbing seven out of the last 10 points to take the first set 28-26.

Both teams came out strong in the second set tying at three apiece. The Vikings tallied four straight unanswered points to take its first lead 10-6. St. Cloud State continued to rally, going on a 3-0 run to tie the set at 10-10. Two back-to-back kills from Cech and Wilson pushed Augustana ahead 12-10. The Vikings continued to surge, using a 4-0 run to push its lead ahead 16-11.  Augustana put together another 3-0 run that closed out the second set winning 25-18.

The Vikings headed into intermission leading 2-0 over the Huskies.

In third set, St. Cloud State came out strong trying to cut Augustana's momentum by going on an early 4-0 run to take a 4-2 advantage. Both teams battled back and forth, coming to a halt at 11 apiece before the Huskies kept their spark by going back on a 4-0 run to lead 14-11. The Vikings regained focus, going on a 3-0 run tying the set 18-18. A final kill from St. Cloud State's Kellan Flynn closed out the third set, winning 25-23.

The Huskies continued to keep its momentum in the fourth set going on an early 3-1 lead. St. Cloud State kept battling ahead going back on a 3-0 run, gaining a 14-9 lead and forcing Augustana to take a timeout. The Vikings rallied back out of the timeout, grabbing 14 out of the next 18 points to power ahead 23-18. Wilson dominated at the net collected a final solo block to close out the fourth and final with a score of 25-21.  

Augustana returns to action tomorrow afternoon as they take on No. 2 Minnesota Duluth in Duluth, Minn. First serve is slated for 4 p.m.