CHADRON, Neb. — The Augustana volleyball program continued its 2025 season at the Eagle Classic, hosted by Chadron State, on Friday. The Vikings won the first match of the day 3-2 against the host Eagles and closed out the night with a three-set sweep over Saint Martin's. 

Chadron State
The Vikings knocked off the Eagles in a reverse sweep, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-11 to kick off the day.

Reagan Jansen had a career-high 23 kills while adding a pair of blocks and hitting .378 to lead the offense. Maya Wente added 16 kills and five blocks while hitting .483 while Lucy Belisle came one kill shy of a career-high with 15. 

Kiylah Franke reset her career-best with 55 assists while adding 10 digs. Gabby Jones led the team with 13 digs and had two aces and Clara Hoegh had 11 digs and a team-high four aces. Lucy Cogan (11) and Ellie Walker (10) also had double-digit digs for the backline. 

The Vikings outhit the Eagles .316 to .268 while having 70 kills to the CSC 58. AU held a 12-8 advantage in aces, 66-55 edge in assists and a 65-60 advantage in digs. 

The first three points and four of the first five went to AU, capped by a Jansen kill. A back-and-forth string ensued before a 4-0 CSC run gave them its first lead of the day at 12-10. The Vikings reclaimed a lead at 13-12 with two Jansen kills before she collaborated with Wente for a block and saw their final lead at 18-17. The Eagles charged in front to lead by as many as three at 22-19 and scored the final two points with the set tied 23-23 to take set one. 

After a 4-1 strike from the Vikings to open the second set, the teams saw ties at 7, 9, 110, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 in a tightly contested set. After a Jansen kill brought the set to its final tie, CSC scored a pair of points to take a 2-0 lead. 

The Vikings started their march in the third set, going on an 8-2 run after starting tied 2-2 and never giving up the lead. The Eagles got within 11-9, but that quickly turned into a 14-10 advantage. After CSC got back to 15-12, a 6-1 run led by three Belisle kills gave AU a commanding lead at 21-13. A late comeback saw the lead shrink to 21-18 but it would be too little, too late as the Vikings forced a fourth set. 

An early 7-4 Eagle lead was wiped away by a 3-0 run to even the score at 7-7. After a CSC kill, Kelby Opland, Wente and Jansen each recorded a kill and a CSC attack error made it 11-8 Vikings. The Eagles clawed back to 12-11 but a 7-1 AU run quickly erased that momentum and catapulted them to a 19-12 lead. Another late run from CSC made it 21-18 but AU scored four of the final six points to bring us to set five. 

Kills from Jansen and Wente, a Hoegh ace and a block from the Jansen-Wente combination helped propel the Vikings to a 4-1 lead in the early stages of the deciding set. After AU jumped in front 4-3, CSC roared back to tie it at 7-7. With the match at 8-8, the defense took control. A pair of blocks gave the Vikings a lead they wouldn't surrender and after the Eagles got within 11-10, two Jansen kills rallied a 4-1 run that closed the match and gave AU its second win of the season. 

Saint Martin's
The Vikings downed Saint Martin's in a three-set sweep, 25-21, 25-11, 25-19, on Friday night and moved to 3-0 on the season. Jansen led the Vikings with 14 kills while Maya Wente added 12. Wente also garnered a team-high six blocks. AU secured 40 kills and eight aces. 

Augustana battled back and forth throughout the opening set. Both teams shared the lead until the Vikings went on a six-point stretch to make it 14-9. SMU climbed back to cut AU's lead to two and made it 20-18. Jansen secured her sixth kill of the night to secure set one, 25-21. Augustana had a hitting percentage of .296 and garnered three service aces. 

The Vikings opened up set two with energy as they took an early 12-2 lead. Saint Martin's answered with a small run, but Augustana kept the pedal to the floor and quickly pushed its lead to 11. Back-to-back kills from Brooke Berens and Jansen propelled Augustana to a 25-11 set two win. 

Saint Martin's found early momentum in set three and it jumped out to a 6-2 lead before head coach Jen Jacobs called a timeout. Augustana quickly challenged the Saints to make it 10-10 after an attack error from Emily Garten. The Vikings garnered their first lead of the third set with a kill from Maya Wente. AU jumped out to a four-point lead before Saint Martin's could answer back. The Saints continued their run before a kill from Lucy Barte turned the tide and Augustana clinched the three-set sweep.

Up Next
Augustana returns to the court Saturday afternoon to close out the Eagle Classic against NSIC foe Northern State. The match is slated for 12 p.m. (cst.).