SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana volleyball team fell to the No. 9 Huskies of St. Cloud State in the semifinals of the NSIC Tournament (25-21, 25-23, 25-20) on Saturday evening in St. Paul, Minn.
The Vikings have moved to a 20-10 overall record while the Huskies advance to a 25-5 record. The Huskies move on to the NSIC Tournament finals tomorrow afternoon against No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul.
The Vikings created momentum early starting with the opening point of the match. Following a serve by senior Avery Thorson, an uncontrolled Huskie reception hurled back at the Augustana offense allowed senior Maddy Guetter to hammer down a kill in the Huskie court. Augustana cruised into an early 5-0 lead staying comfortable holding off the Huskies. St. Cloud State struggled to get into rhythm allowing the Vikings to bridge a scoring gap as large as six. However, a late fire was lit in the Huskies propelling them into a 9-0 run to steal away the first set of the night.
Set two began with a trade of points between the Vikings and the Huskies until an early 5-0 run by the Vikings pulled them ahead 13-8. With the aid of two Huskie attack errors and kills by Guetter and senior Kia Kriener Augustana held off St. Cloud State well into the middle of the set. Kriener and senior Kate Reimann each had two kills apiece late in the second set to spark another 4-0 lead keeping off the Huskies. However, a steady St. Cloud State offense led to a 14-3 Huskie run to allow them a second set win of the evening.
In similar fashion of set two, set three opened by a back-and-forth scoring brawl keeping both sides of the net tied at 12. That would be the last lead change of the night, which led to a Huskie advantage. A mid-set 5-0 run was the difference for St. Cloud State in the final set. The Vikings would keep in the fight continuing to trade points back and forth with the Huskies closing the scoring gap as little as two, but a final 3-0 run for the Huskies clinched St. Cloud Stats its third, and final, set of the evening.
Overall, both sides of the net completed 42 kills, however, the Huskies mustered a .231 attack percentage over the Vikings .205. Augustana was led by Reimann with 16 kills and 16.0 points. Following Reimann was Guetter with nine kills and 9.5 points. Sophomore Jolie Stecher helped protect the Vikings court walling up 2 blocks. Senior libero Erika Bute led Augustana in digs with 14.
– GoAugie.com –
