WINONA, Minn. – Augustana volleyball responded in strong fashion from a narrow first set loss by taking down the Winona State Warriors on the road 24-26, 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 on Friday evening inside McCown Gymnasium.
Lucy Belisle led AU with 17 kills while hitting .533 while
Kiylah Franke recorded 53 assists, two service aces and five digs.
Gabby Jones collected a team-high 20 digs and added four assists as
Reagan Jansen finished with 14 kills, 12 digs and one service ace.
As a team, the Vikings hit .331 with 62 kills while holding Winona State to a .196 hitting percentage. AU led in kills (62-49), blocks (7-4), assists (60-49) and digs (77-60) while trailing in aces (11-7).
Augustana took the first two points on an
Abby Gruber kill and block, but WSU answered to move ahead 3-2. The set stayed tight through the middle points, with AU pulling even at 15-15 on consecutive Jansen kills and moving in front 16-15 on Gruber's kill before the teams traded points to 19-19. Winona State scored the next three points to go up 22-19, but the Vikings came back from 23-20 with a Belisle kill, an opponent attack error and a
Maya Wente kill to tie it at 23-23. After Augustana tied the set again at 24-24, the home team put down back-to-back kills to give Winona State the set, 26-24.
An early 3-0 lead came in the second set after a Winona State service error, a ball-handling error and a Jansen kill from Jones. After the Warriors got on the board, AU answered with a
Sydney Tims-
Jazmen Kutey block, a
Lucy Cogan ace, a Tims-Wente block and a Tims kill to move ahead 7-1 before pushing the margin to 15-5 behind three straight Belisle kills. Winona State cut the gap to 18-11, but Augustana steadied the set with kills from Jansen and Wente before Wente and Jansen helped extend the lead to 22-12. WSU got as close as 23-16 late, but a service error brought up set point and Belisle finished the 25-16 set win with a kill from Franke.
In the third set, the Vikings opened with three straight points, including a Franke ace and a Belisle kill, but Winona State moved in front 7-5. That advantage extended to 13-10 before AU took seven of the next eight points, a stretch that included kills by Belisle, Kutey, Tims and Jansen and another Franke ace, to move ahead 17-14. Winona State answered with four straight points to tie the set at 18-18, but two Jansen kills put Augustana back in front 20-18 before Wente's kill made it 22-19. After the Warriors got within 23-22, an attack error gave the Vikings set point, and Belisle finished the set with a kill from Franke for a 25-22 win.
Winona State took control early at 5-3 but AU answered with six straight points behind kills from Wente and Belisle, a Wente block and a Jansen ace to go ahead 9-5. The Warriors worked back to 12-11 with four straight points before the Vikings won seven of the next eight rallies for a 19-12 lead with kills from Tims, Gruber and Belisle and an
Alexis Nelson ace during the stretch. After the home team cut it to 19-14, Augustana kept separation, then closed the set with three straight points from 22-16, including kills by Jansen and Wente, to win the fourth set 25-16.
UP NEXT
The Viking volleyball team will conclude the 2026 regular season slate at Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, with a 5 p.m. start time.
--GoAugie.com--
