SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 14 Augustana volleyball will look to continue their impressive start this weekend on the road. The Vikings will travel to Aberdeen, S.D. Friday, Sept. 23 to take on No. 11 Northern State before going to Moorhead, Minn. Saturday to take on Minnesota State-Moorhead. First serve against NSU is at 7 p.m. and 4 p.m. against MSUM.
 
FIRST SERVE
• The Vikings stayed unbeaten in NSIC play after defeating No. 4 Wayne State 3-1 Tuesday
• The Vikings will play their second ranked team of the week, No. 11 Northern State, on Friday in Aberdeen. This will be Augustana's fifth ranked opponent of the season. Augustana is 3-1 against ranked opponents
• When Augustana and Northern State meet it will be a battle of teams with identical records. Both are 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the NSIC
• The last time Augustana started 3-0 in conference play was in 2012. They started 4-0 with their fourth win coming against Northern State
• Against teams ranked in the AVCA Top-5, the Vikings are 3-0 this season
• Courtney Place tied a career-high against Wayne State with 21 kills. Place also had 16 digs in the match
 
SERIES HISTORY
Augustana and Northern State will be playing for the 30th time in series history Friday. The Vikings hold a 19-9-2 series advantage over the Wolves. Northern State has won the last three meetings in the series, only allowing the Vikings to win one set (2014). Augustana owns the longest winning streak in the series at 11 matches. When the two teams play in Aberdeen Augustana in 7-2.

Augustana and MSU Moorhead will compete against each other for the 26th time on Saturday. Augustana leads the series 18-7 but lost the last match 3-2 in Moorhead, Minn. Last season's loss snapped the Vikings four-match win streak over the Dragons. The Vikings are 5-2 against MSUM when the two teams play in Moorhead, Minn.
 
THE LAST TIME THEY PLAYED
• Augustana at Northern State: October 31, 2015; Augustana was swept by Northern State in their last match 16-25, 23-25, 19-25. Augustan was led by Ashley Wilson and Lauren Waite who each had 10 kills. Northern State was led by Kelsey Chambers who had 20 kills
• Augustana at MSU Moorhead: October 30, 2015; Augustana lost in 5-sets at MSU Moorhead after winning the first two sets 25-22, 27-25, 21-25, 21-25, 6-15. Augustana was led by Lauren Waite who had 19 kills. MSUM was led by Carly Masloski who also had 19 kills
 
A LOOK AT NORTHERN STATE
No. 11 Northern State improved to 10-1, 3-0 NSIC after hosting and defeating MSU Moorhead Tuesday night 3-0. The Wolves are off to a great start for the second straight season. In 2015 NSU started the season 21-0, which included a win over No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul.
 
Northern State's lone loss this season was to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul 3-0 at the CSP Tournament during the first weekend of the season. In the CSP Tournament NSU upset No. 5 Western Washington 3-2 in their season opener.
 
The Wolves opened NSIC play against U-Mary, Minot State and MSU Moorhead. Only Minot State has won a set against NSU.
 
NSU is led by Holly Vancura who has 124 kills and a 3.18 kills per set average. She has added 122 digs, 15 blocks, seven service aces and five assists to her season totals.
 
A LOOK AT MSU MOORHEAD
MSU Moorhead is 6-5, 1-2 in the NSIC and on a two-match losing streak entering Friday. MSUM and Augustana have two common opponents this season. Each team played Michigan Tech and Wisconsin-Parkside. The Dragons lost to Michigan Tech 1-3 but beat UWP 3-1.
 
The Dragons are led this season by junior Carly Masloski who has 131 kills, 30 more than the next most. Masloski also has 21 total blocks, 15 digs and one assist on the year.
 
AUGUSTANA IN THE RANKINGS
• Augustana jumped six spots in this week's AVCA Top-25 Poll. The Vikings are ranked No. 14 in this week's poll.
• The Vikings have been ranked in the AVCA Top-25 poll a total of 206 times of the possible 388 polls. Only Central Missouri has been ranked in every AVCA Poll.
• Augustana currently trails Grand Valley State in total number of weeks ranked by just two and North Dakota State by 10 weeks.
• The Vikings 206 appearances in the AVCA Poll is the 10th most all-time. The only NSIC team to have more appearances is Minnesota Duluth, who have been ranked the third most times with 312
• This is the first time since Sept. 8, 2008, that the Vikings have been ranked in the top-15 of the AVCA Poll
• 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 69 times. That is the 24th most top-10 rankings in Division II history. They are just one top-10 ranking away from tying UC San Diego and North Alabama
• After the first full weekend of conference play, Augustana is third in the NSIC. They trail Concordia-St. Paul (10-0, 2-0 NSIC) and Minnesota Duluth (10-0, 2-0 NSIC)
• Augustana, Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota Duluth are joined by Northern State as the only teams to open conference play 2-0
 
AUGUSTANA STATISTICALLY
• The Vikings rank first in multiple categories in the NSIC. Augustana currently leads the conference in team assists (528), attacks per set (39.20), total digs (750), total kills (567) and total attacks (1,568)
• Augustana ranks 19th in the country assists, 15th in attacks per set, 19th in kills and 22nd in digs
• The Vikings rank in the top-10 nationally in assists per set (13.20) and kills per set (14.18)
• Anna Sykora ranks 21st nationally in assists per set with an 11.08 average
• Tahlyr Banks ranks 12th nationally in digs per set average with a 5.85 average
• Sykora is tied for 12th in Division II for total assists with 443. Her 443 assists this season are tops in the NSIC
• Banks is tied for 11th in Division II for total digs with 234. Her 234 digs is tops in the NSIC this season
• Banks' 27 digs against Chadron State on Sept. 10 was the 12th most this season for a 3-set match
• The Vikings own the top mark in the NSIC for kills in a 4-set match with 73 against Palm Beach Atlantic
• Augustana's .288 hitting percentage against Southwest Minnesota State is the fourth highest percentage in the NSIC this season in a 5-set match. SMSU's .314 in the same match is the highest
 
UP NEXT
Following the Vikings road trip to Northern State and MSU Moorhead this weekend, Augustana will be back at home in the Elmen Center Sept. 30 against U-Mary and Oct. 1 against Minot State.