SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The Augustana volleyball team took down No. 8 ranked team in St. Cloud State on Friday night inside the Elmen Center in straight sets. The last time the Vikings defeated a top-10 team was in head coach Jennifer Jacobs's first season when they defeated No. 9 Northern State 3-1. 

The momentum swung Augustana's way in the opening set after a few tight first moments of the match. The Vikings used a 6-1 run to jump out to 14-7 and force a timeout from the Huskies. From there the Vikings would score back-to-back points here and there before taking a 22-12 lead late with Kelsey Ruff finishing things off with an ace to take the first set.

Augustana would carry that momentum over into the second stanza after building a lead as large as five early on. The Vikings used a  huge 9-2 run to jump out to a 16-8 lead. The Huskies gained some ground after utilizing a 9-1 run of their own to make the score 21-17. St. Cloud State got as close as 22-21 before the back-to-back errors from the Huskies along with a kill from Izzy Sommers to take the 25-22 second set win. 

After another hot start to the set, the Vikings built a 4-1 lead before SCSU clawed back to make it 11-9. Augustana utilized a couple of small runs during the middle of the set to take a 19-13 lead late in the third frame. SCSU showed they weren't going down with a fight as it made it a 22-20 score and a 24-22 score before Grace Haberland laid down the hammer to secure the set and the sweep 25-23. 

Payton Rosendahl and Haberland led the way with 10 kills a-piece for the Vikings. Rosendahl hit at a .563 clip while Maddy Guetter chipped in with nine kills. Avery Thorson finished with a team-high 31 assists and eight digs while Erika Bute recorded 23 digs. Abby Benson and Sommers led the way in the front finishing with six blocks and five blocks.  

As a team, the Vikings recorded 39 kills, 35 assists and three aces. Defensively, Augustana recorded 11 blocks and 61 digs. 

Quotable
"I am very proud of the way the team showed up tonight," Jacobs said. "I knew they had it in them. This team is scary when we are operating on all cylinders. Tonight was a big win for us."

Up Next
The Vikings will finish up the weekend hosting No. 7 Minnesota Duluth at 2 p.m. on Saturday inside the Elmen Center.