WAYNE, Neb. -- The 12th-ranked Augustana volleyball team suffered their third straight 5-set loss as the 18th-ranked Wayne State Wildcats dropped the Vikings 3-2 Friday night. With the loss, the Vikings fall to (8-4, 0-3) on the season.

"We are out there grinding as hard as we can and just falling a little short," first-year head coach Jennifer Jacobs said. "It's a long season and we will continue to bounce back and continue to work hard."

For the second match in a row, senior setter Alex Banker set a new career-high in assists. The Omaha, Neb. native accounted for 56 assists and 17 digs, joining junior Courtney Place as the two Vikings to have double-doubles on the evening. Place knocked down 15 kills while tying a career-high with 21 digs.

Junior Lauren Waite tallied a match-high 18 kills, the Sergeant Bluff, Iowa native has now had double-digit kills in four of her last five matches. Ashley Wilson smashed 12 kills on the night while hitting a match-best .409. Senior middle blocker Bailey Koch had 12 kills to go along with 9 block assists, which led Augustana.

As a team, the Vikings hit .194 on the night including 30 errors. The Wildcats hit .188 with 22 errors.

Augustana fell behind in the match early, dropping the first two sets (19-25, 22-25) respectively. In the second set, the Vikings trailed 16-13. Kills by Koch and Wilson helped Augustana climb to a 19-18 deficit before the Vikings ultimately tied the match at 22, forcing a Wayne State timeout. A kill by Tarrin Beller gave the Wildcats (7-4, 2-1) momentum out of the timeout and ultimately took the set from Augustana.

An 8-0 run in set three boasted the Vikings to a 25-12 blowout victory. Augustana started knocking down more shots, hitting .286 and recorded 15 kills as a team. During the 8-0 stretch, junior Hanna Justesen had two of her seven kills in the match.

19 kills in the fourth set helped Augustana tie the match up at two. As a team, the Vikings used a .390 attack percentage to pound out a 25-19 set victory. Koch and Waite each hit over .500 in the set and had six kills to help the Vikings.

The fifth set went back-and-fourth early on, but tied at 9, Wayne State went on a run, and ultimately clinched the match with a (15-11) victory.

Augustana returns to action Friday when they travel to St. Cloud, Minn. for a battle with St. Cloud State. First serve is set for 6 p.m.