DULUTH, Minn. – A night after snapping a season-long skid with a 3-1 win at St. Cloud, the task got tougher for the No. 12 ranked Augustana volleyball team, as it traveled to Duluth, Minnesota to close the weekend against the No. 6 ranked Bulldogs, who downed the Vikings 3-1.
 
The loss drops the Vikings to 9-5 on the season overall and to 1-4 in NSIC play, while the host Bulldogs improve to 12-1, and remain perfect in conference play at 5-0.
 
Augustana jumped out to the early lead in Set 1, but UMD caught them at 7-7, only to see the Vikings push the lead back to four points at 19-15 out of a Duluth timeout. That lead didn't last though, as the Bulldogs rattled off five straight points to take a 20-19 lead, and never trailed again in winning the set 25-23.
 
Up 11-10 in the second set, the Bulldogs went on a 7-1 run to go up 18-11, and then fought off a late Vikings rally to secure the 25-21 win in the set, and take 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Looking to avoid the straight set loss, the Vikings fired back in the third set, jumping out to an early lead. The Bulldogs would get come back to tie the match at 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15-all, but Augustana broke the final tie with two straight points, and never looked back in the 25-20 Set 3 win.
 
Minnesota Duluth put any Augustana hopes of forcing a fifth set to bed early in the fourth set, breaking a 1-1 tie with a 5-0 run, and increasing its lead throughout the set, on the way to a 25-15 win and a 3-1 win in the match.
Courtney Place led four Vikings players with at least 10 kills, finishing with 17. Bailey Koch added 13, Ashley Wilson 12 and Lauren Waite 11 kills in the loss. Alex Banker assisted on 47 kills in the match, and added 11 digs for her second double-double in as many matches.
 
A night after setting the Augustana career digs record, Tahlyr Banks added a match-high 27 digs to extend her record.
 
The Vikings look to bounce back on Tuesday, when they host Black Hills State in non-conference action in the Elmen Center at 5 p.m., and then returns to NSIC play next weekend, starting with Bemidji State on Friday, and Minnesota Crookston on Saturday.