WINONA, Minn. – For the second day in a row, Augustana came away with a split Saturday at St. Mary's University's Sugar Loaf Classic. The Vikings dropped their opener to Dominican in three sets before bouncing back with a three-game victory over Northland. Now 2-2 on the season, Coach Kelly Bethke's squad will christen Carver Center's new floor on Wednesday, September 5, when it hosts Dubuque in the 2018 home opener.
 
DOMINICAN 3, AUGUSTANA 0 (25-23; 25-18; 25-20)
 
Augustana jumped in front 4-0 in game one, but an Anastasia Labadessa kill got the Stars on the board and they eventually forged a 10-9 lead. The margin reached five points twice before the Vikings rallied to tie it at 21-all. They were still even at 23-23 following a Victoria Biggerstaff (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.) kill. However, consecutive Gillian Jones kills closed the set out in favor of Dominican.
 
The Stars took the first three points of game two and led until a Madi Glatz (Morton HS, Morton, Ill.) service ace pulled Augustana even at 7-7. There were ties at eight, nine and 11 before a Jones kill gave Dominican the lead (12-11) for good. Her kill eventually provided set point in a 25-18 Star win.
 
Kills by sophomore Alora Gomez (West Aurora HS, North Aurora, Ill.) and senior Emily Uglem (Moorhead HS, Moorhead, Minn.) and an ace by junior Brooke Harmon (Lindbergh HS, St. Louis, Mo.) gave the Vikings a 3-1 lead in game three, but Dominican came right back to win 11 of 13 points and go up 12-5. After falling behind by as many as eight points, Augustana rallied to within 23-20 before back-to-back Jones kills finished off the match.
 
Uglem led Bethke's bunch with nine kills. Senior McKenzie Zambrano (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) had 16 assists and sophomore Jessica Nguyen (Kaneland HS, Elburn, Ill.) led with 13 digs. Jones finished with a match-high 15 kills for the Stars.
 
AUGUSTANA 3, NORTHLAND 0 (25-16; 25-25; 25-15)
 
Bethke used 18 players in the Vikings' three-set win over the LumberJills. Uglem led the way with seven kills, while junior Grace Bialobok (Homewood-Flossmoor HS, Homewood, Ill.) and freshman Sierra Erke (Quincy HS, Quincy, Ill.) added five each. Zambrano's 12 assists were augmented by 11 from freshman Olivia Doak (Crystal Lake Central HS, Crystal Lake, Ill.) and Nguyen chipped in with 14 more digs.
 
Bialobok started the match with a kill off a Zambrano set and Augustana never trailed in a 25-16 first game win. Biggerstaff's kill provided set point.
 
The Vikings led wire-to-wire in game two, with freshman Jordan Dryfhout (Chicago Christian HS, Orland Park, Ill.) setting Harmon for a set-point kill.
 
Augustana trailed 3-1 in the third game, but quickly righted things, pulling even (3-3) on a kill by senior Bianca Ori (Antioch HS, Antioch, Ill.). A Harmon ace gave her team the lead for good at 6-5 and match point came when junior Brooke Keegan (Hall HS, Ladd, Ill.) set freshman Madelyn Benoit (Huntsville HS, Huntsville, Texas) for a kill.