SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Head coach Jennifer Jacobs and the nationally ranked Augustana University volleyball program open up the 2018 season at the Eckerd Classic in St. Petersburg, Florida this weekend.

The Vikings, who are ranked 23rd in the preseason AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll, take on Seton Hill on Friday, August 24 at 11:30 a.m. (CT) followed by a match with Eckerd at 6:30 p.m. (CT). On Saturday, Augustana continues the Eckerd Classic with two more matches, beginning with Missouri-St. Louis at 11:30 a.m. (CT) followed by a match with Charleston at 4:30 p.m.

While Augustana welcomes some new faces to the 2018 squad, the Vikings return 10 athletes to the floor, including seniors Kaylea Ahrens, Courtney Place, Hanna Justesen and Kathryn Nasby. Place, a senior outside hitter from Okabena, Minnesota, led the team with 449 kills last season and had the third most in the NSIC. Justesen participated in 32 matches a season ago and recorded 313 digs and 54 kills.

Coach Jacobs enters her second season as the head coach for the Vikings and added Michelle (Van Epps) Aggen as her top assistant and Jaelyn Arndt as the graduate assistant for the volleyball program. Aggen played college volleyball at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, South Dakota and was a three year starter and a three year captain. She participated in 92 career matches, finished with 3,263 set assists, which ranks third all-time at DWU. Earning GPAC all-conference honors, Aggen concluded her career with 759 digs and 218 kills. Jacobs coached Arndt at Augsburg College and was an outside hitter.

Scouting Seton Hill
Coached by Rick Hall, who's entering his 34th season coaching the Griffins volleyball program, Seton Hill opens up their 2018 campaign against Augustana after tallying a 22-8 record last season.

The Seton Hill volleyball team has been selected to finish first in the PSAC Southwest Division this fall as picked by the coaches in the 2018 PSAC Preseason Volleyball Poll. he Griffins are coming off their fourth PSAC Tournament appearance in five seasons in the league.  Seton Hill also qualified for its third NCAA Atlantic Regional appearance in 2017.

Scouting Eckerd College
Eckerd volleyball is coming off a season in which they made another trip to the NCAA South Regional Tournament last season and their ninth in program history. In 2018, the Tritons return a mixture of key returning student-athletes and talented newcomers for seventh-year head coach Michelle Piantadosi-Lima.

​​​​​​​Eckerd will have to replace Kaitlyn Sibson, who is the program's leader in both single-season and career digs.  However, the Tritons won't be short on experience in the back row with senior Arielle Erillo. Errilo has been a fixture as the defensive specialist since her freshman season.

Scouting Missouri-St. Louis
Fresh off its best season in nine years, the University of Missouri-St. Louis volleyball team has been picked to finish seventh in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Preseason Poll, as announced today by the league.

The Tritons are coming off a 22-8 record, which marked the program's most wins since 2008. They ended the regular season on a five-match win streak and winners of 11 of their last 12 and posted a 12-6 mark in the league. Ninth-year head coach Ryan Young returns six players that saw action in all 30 matches last season, including junior outside hitter Selena Nolte, who earned First Team All-GLVC accolades after averaging a team-best 3.08 kills per set.

Scouting Charleston
Charleston returns its top five leaders in kills from a season ago and will be led by senior Carly Granger who earned first team All-MEC honors to lead Charleston last season. Kelsey Matusic earned All-MEC honors last year as a libero leading the UC defense with 4.99 digs per set.

Last season, the Charleston volleyball program finished the year with a 17-14 record which included a 13-4 record in conference play.