SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 6 Augustana volleyball will be home Friday and Saturday for one of the biggest weekends in program history. The Vikings welcome No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul to town on Friday at 7 p.m. and Minnesota State on Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
First Serve
• Junior Bailey Koch was named NSIC?Defensive?Player of the Week after recording 13 blocks and tying a career-high with seven against Minot State
• Augustana has swept their last five opponents. The last time they swept at least five straight teams was back in 2000 when they swept eight consecutive teams
• The Vikings 16-1 record is the best start to a season since 2000 when they started 23-1
• Last season the Vikings were the only team to take Concordia-St. Paul to 5-sets twice
• Augustana has won the second set of matches 14 times of a possible 17 and they are outscoring teams 425 to 319 in the second set
• The Vikings are 4-0 at home this season
• Courtney Place is the first Vikings to reach 200 kills this season
 
Series History
Augustana trails Concordia-St. Paul 1-21 in the all-time series against the Golden Bears. The Viking win the first ever meeting against Concordia but have since lost 21 straight. Last season Augustana played Concordia tough, taking them to 5-sets twice. The Vikings first match-up with the golden Bears last season was the first time since 2009 that they had won a set against CSP. In the last six meetings between the two programs, CSP has been ranked 1, 2 or 3 in the AVCA Top-25.
 
Augustana owns a 32-28 all-time record against Minnesota State. The two programs split the season series last year with MSU winning the first meeting in Mankato and Augustana taking the second match in Sioux Falls. When the match is played in Sioux Falls the Vikings are 14-8 against the Mavericks. This will be the first time since 2012 that one of the two programs is ranked.
 
Last Time They Played
• Vikings vs Concordia-St. Paul: November 7, 2015; Concordia-St. Paul defeated Augustana 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 20-25, 25-14, 9-15)
• Vikings vs Minnesota State: November 6, 2015; Augustana defeated MSU 3-0 (25-13, 28-26, 25-17)
 
 
A Look Concordia-St. Paul
Concordia-St. Paul is doing what they do best, and that's winning. The Golden Bears enter Friday's match-up with an overall record of 14-1 and an NSIC record of 6-1. Their lone loss this season came at home last Friday to Minnesota Duluth in 5-sets. Before their loss to Duluth, Concordia had only lost two sets all season. Those two set losses came against No. 5 Southwest Minnesota State in Denver and Minnesota State in Mankato.
 
This season CSP has played eight ranked teams and owns a 7-1 record in those matches. They opened their season at home in the Concordia University Tournament and followed that with a trip to Denver to compete in the Colorado Premier Challenge. Since 2012 CSP has only lost three matches at the Premier Challenge.
 
The Golden Bears are led by NSIC Preseason Player of the Year Riley Hanson. Hanson has 162 kills this season and a kills per set average of 3.31. They have three athletes that have over 140 kills this season: Hanson, Anna Schlaak and Emma Lange. On the defensive side Lange is leading the team in blocks with 41. Hanson is a close second with 30 blocks.
 
A Look at Minnesota State
Minnesota State enters the weekend with a 9-6 overall record and a 3-4 record in the NSIC. On the road this season the Mavericks are 3-3. In their last eight matches MSU is 4-4 with a win followed by a loss in each match. Last Saturday they took then No. 2 Minnesota Duluth to 5-sets.
 
The Mavericks are led offensively by Krista Hassing who enters the weekend with 207 kills and a kills per set average of 3.63. Hassing also has nine service aces and leads the team in service errors with 27. On defense Haley Fogarty leads the team in digs with 298 digs while Hassing leds the way with 50 blocks.
 
Weekend Promotions
Friday night Augustana will be taking on No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul in what will be the biggest match of the season thus far. Come out and be loud and give Augustana the best home court advantage in the NSIC. Saturday is "Augie All In" so bring your Augie All In cups and get free popcorn.
 
Augustana in the Rankings
• Augustana jumped two spots in this weeks in AVCA Top-25 Poll. The Vikings are ranked No. 6 in this week's poll.
• The Vikings have been ranked in the AVCA Top-25 poll a total of 208 times of the possible 390 polls. Only Central Missouri has been ranked in every AVCA Poll.
• Augustana tied Grand Valley State at ninth for total number of weeks ranked in the AVCA with 208. They trail North Dakota State by just eight weeks, who has been ranked the eighth most times.
• The Vikings 208 appearances in the AVCA Poll is tied for the 9th most all-time. The only NSIC team to have more appearances is Minnesota Duluth, who have been ranked the third most times with 314
• This is the first time since 2001 that Augustana has spent back-to-back weeks in the AVCA Top-10. They began the preseason ranked third and then fell to seventh on Aug. 28.
• Augustana's highest rank in school history was second back on Dec. 5, 2000
• The Vikings have had a lot of success in program history and it shows with the number of top-10 rankings the program has earned. Augustana has been ranked in the top-10, 71 times. That is the 22nd most top-10 rankings in Division II history. This week they passed UC San Diego and North Alabama for most weeks ranked in the top-10
• The Vikings are sitting in second-place in the NSIC with a perfect 7-0 conference record
• Augustana and Minnesota Duluth are the only remaining undefeated teams in the conference
 
Augustana Statistically
• Anna Sykora is ranked 11th nationally in assists per set average at 11.43. In total assists she ranks 14th nationally
• Tahlyr Banks ranks 21st nationally in digs per set average with an average of 5.52 digs per set. In total digs she ranks 15th nationally with 319 digs
• As a team the Vikings are one of the best passing teams in the country. They are ranked 5th nationally in assists per set at 13.56
• Augustana is ranked 47th in Division II in blocks per set with 2.12 blocks per set
• As a team the Vikings have had a lot of success at the net with 121 blocks this season. That mark is the 42nd best in Division II
• The Vikings find themselves ranked 16th with a digs per set average of 18.56
• Augustana's 14-1 records this season is among the best in the country. They have the eighth best record in the country currently. Only Nebraska-Kearney and Minnesota Duluth are undefeated
• Augustana is being led offensively by Courtney Place who has 196 kills this season. She has a 3.50 kills be set average and a hitting percentage of .258
• The Vikings have four players with at least 100 kills: Place (196), Hanna Justesen (136), Ashley Wilson (127) and Bailey Koch (120). Brittany Cech is just six kills shy of reaching 100 for the season
• As a team the Vikings have a hitting percentage of .239
• Five different Vikings have over 100 digs this year: Tahlyr Banks (319), Cech (192), Justesen (154), Sykora (145) and Place (105)
When Playing AVCA Top-25 Opponents
• In 2016 Augustana is 4-1 against team's ranked in the AVCA?Top-25
• The Vikings are 3-0 against the AVCA?Top-5 in 2016
• Over the last two season's the Vikings have compiled a 7-10 record against teams ranked in the AVCA Top-25. During that time Augustana is 4-6 against the AVCA?Top-5
 
Up Next
Following Augustana's weekend against Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State the Vikings will travel to Upper Iowa and Winona State Oct. 14-15.