TAMPA, Fla. — The Augustana volleyball program opened up its 2021 season at the Tampa Volleyball Tournament on Friday. The Vikings dropped the first match of the day 3-1 against No. 17 Northwest Missouri State. They then followed with a five-set thriller, but on the wrong side, in a 3-2 loss to No. 5 Tampa. 
 
No. 17 Northwest Missouri State: L, 3-1
After falling behind 9-3 in the opening set, the Vikings went on a 3-0 run with kills from sophomore Callie Hohenhaus, senior Avery Thorson and senior Grace Haberland. 
 
From that point, Augustana accounted for six of the next nine points to bring AU within five four at 16-12. The run was capped by two kills from junior Maddy Guetter. 
 
After an Augustana timeout, the Vikings went on a six-point burst capitalizing on errors by the Bearcats and three kills from Piper Asche, Guetter and Thorson to give Augustana its first lead of the set at 21-19.
 
However, from there the Bearcats prevailed 25-21 to take the first set.
 
After being in a stalemate with Northwest Missouri for the beginning of the second set, Augustana snagged a 9-5 lead off of four attack errors from the Bearcats and a kill by Guetter.
 
The Bearcats then capitalized on attack errors by the Vikings to gain a two-point lead heading into an Augustana timeout at 13-11.
 
The timeout brought the Vikings back into the set, battling with the 17th-ranked Bearcats to 16-16. From that point, the Bearcats opened up and claimed the set in 25-17.
 
After falling behind 4-0 to open the third set, Augustana slowed the momentum in and battled to a one-point deficit at 7-6. From there, momentum shifted to the Vikings' favor as Au scored six of the next seven points with senior Payton Rosendahl accumulating three kills in that span to take a 12-8 advantage. 
 
Augustana extended its lead to 17-13 and pushed that lead through the end of the set as Guetter tallied a kill for the 25-22 set three victory. 
 
In the fourth set, things stayed tight knotted at 11-all. 
 
After two unanswered points for Northwest Missouri, the Vikings had a quick burst gaining three points complimented by a service ace by junior Erika Bute to give Augustana a one-point lead at 14-13.
 
Northwest Missouri proved to be too much for the Vikings scoring 12 of the next 16 points to close out the match and give the Vikings their first loss of the season. 
 
The Vikings were led by Guetter with 16 kills and senior Avery Thorson with 28 assists.
 
The Bearcats were led by Rachel Sturdevant with 13 kills and Alyssa Rezac with 36 assists. 
 
No. 5 Tampa: L, 3-2
It was all Augustana in the opening set with the 25-19 final score. Holding a 10-9 lead, the Vikings went on a run of scoring five of the next six points to snag a 15-10 advantage. In the run, AU received kills from Avery Thorson and Callie Hohenhaus and were aided by pair of attack errors. The 15th point came from a service ace off the hands of Grace Haberland. 
 
Tampa flexed its muscle ever so slightly, and got within three points at 19-16, but the Vikings flexed right back as kills from Payton Rosendahl and Thorson pushed the lead back to five at 21-16.
 
The two squads essentially traded points until the final score of 25-19 in favor of Augustana. 
 
The second set was a hard fought battle that eventually went to Tampa 26-24. After falling behind 4-0 and 6-1, the Vikings mounted a comeback that took nearly the entire set but tied the score at 20-all on a Callie Hohenhaus kill. AU then took a 21-20 lead on an assisted block from Hohenhaus and Maddy Guetter. 
 
The two teams then traded points, including a 24-24 score. However, Tampa snagged two-straight points to record the 26-24 victory. 
 
The fourth set went to the Vikings by a score of 25-20. The started off in the same fashion as the end of the third set, knotted at 3-3 then a slim 5-4 AU lead. However, that's when Augustana took off offensively. 
 
A kill from Guetter started a run that pushed the lead to 14-8 and garner control of the set. Although the Spartans snuck back in at 16-14, Augustana never lost control and pushed the lead to 21-16 on an assisted block from Haberland and Hohenhaus. The fourth set was won on a block from Hohenhaus and Thorson to push to the decisive fifth set. 
 
The Spartan captured the fifth set 15-8, but it wasn't without a fight from the Vikings. Augustana opened a 4-1 lead on the host squad, but after Tampa took a timeout, the Spartans clawed back into the match, tying the score at 6-all and reeled off three more points to take a 9-6 lead. Tampa continued control to capture the set, and the match, 15-8. 

Hohenhaus led the way with 17 kills and an outstanding .483 hitting percentage. She also recorded eight blocks in the match. Guetter recorded 12 kills while Thorson recorded 45 assists.
 
Up Next
The Vikings return to action Saturday to compete on the second day of the Tampa Volleyball Classic. The first match is slated for 11:45 a.m. against Ashland. Augustana rounds out tournament play at 4:15 p.m. playing Illinois Springfield. 
 
Fans can catch all the action on GoAugie.com/Live and on the GoAugie app, presented by CellOnly.