SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The Augustana volleyball team swept Minnesota State Saturday afternoon inside the Elmen Center. The sweep was a bounce back from a 3-1 loss to nationally ranked Concordia-St. Paul on Friday night. 

The first set was a hard-fought win for the Vikings as neither team was able to take a lead larger than four points after MSU held a 10-6 lead early. The first stanza consisted of nine ties and four lead changes that saw Augustana come away with the 25-23 win. 

After the Vikings jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the second frame, the Mavericks answered back to tie things at 12-all. Another run by the Vikings was answered from MSU as the Mavericks tied it at 21-21. Augustana finished the second set off with a 4-0 run capped by a kill from Avery Thorson to take the set 25-21 and take a 2-0 lead. 

The fourth and final set was all Vikings after a tightly contested first two sets. There were only two ties compared to the 16 in the first two sets. 

Augustana used a 5-1 run in the opening moments to go up 9-4 and another 4-1 run later to take a 16-9 lead. Kills from Payton Rosendahl and Kate Reimann gave the Vikings the match point at 24-15 but things got interesting as MSU took the next four points before Abby Benson hammered one home to take the set and match. 

Maddy Guetter and Rosendahl led the way with 10 kills a-piece while Reimann recorded eight on the afternoon. Thorson finished with 37 assists to lead the way for the Viking. Freshman Erika Bute finished with 15 digs. 

As a team, the Vikings finished with 43 kills, four aces and 42 assists. Defensively, Augustana had 50 digs and seven blocks.

Quotable
"I am proud of the way the team bounced back today," head coach Jennifer Jacobs said. "It was a good win for us. Every day is a dog fight in the NSIC and we keep taking one day at a time."

Up Next
The Vikings hit the road to face No. 22 Upper Iowa on Friday at 6 p.m. and Winona State on Saturday at 5 p.m.