ST. PAUL, Minn. - No. 19 Augustana (11-3, 4-2) fell to No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul (10-3, 5-1) in five sets Friday Night (31-29, 12-25, 20-25, 25-14, 9-15).
The Vikings came out strong in set one grabbing an early lead and then holding off a late Golden Bears rally but were unable to build on the momentum gained, going into sets two and three. Concordia came out firing early in both sets, jumping out to early leads. They won set two 25-12. Augustana made it close in set three before falling 25-20.
The Vikings seemed like they were on a mission in set-four. After an early tie of 6-6, Augustana began to click behind the arm of redshirt freshman
Lauren Waite, who had six huge kills off the bench. After being out blocked 11-2 through the first three sets, Augustana found a rhythm late, picking up key three key blocks to help them win the set, 25-14. Augustana was out blocked 17-6 in the match.
Set five was back and forth for the first 6 points, before Concordia grabbed four quick points to make it 10-6 Golden Bears and the Vikings couldn't mount the comeback late.
The Vikings were led by senior
Sydney Hunsley who had a team high 14 kills. She was followed by junior
Brittany Cech and Waite who each had 11.
Junior
Becca Finley led the team in total blocks with four, while sophomore
Ashley Wilson and Waite each had two.
Sophomore
Alex Banker led the Vikings in assists with a career high 31. She was followed by senior
Marissa Johnson, who had 14 and junior
Anna Sykora, who had 13.
Junior
Ivy Pearson is only the second Viking this season to lead the team in digs. Pearson had a team high 19 while Cech had 16. Sophomore
Tahlyr Banks had 15.
Augustana had match high 8 service aces Friday. they were led by Wilson, who had three. Banks and Cech each had two and one respectively.
Augustana will be on the road again tomorrow night has the travel to Mankato to take on Minnesota State tomorrow night. The match is set to begin at 4 p.m. You can follow all the action on twitter
@augievolleyball or via live stats and video
HERE.
