GRINNELL, Iowa – Coach Kelly Bethke's Augustana squad bounced back from a three-set loss to Buena Visa Saturday with a four-set win over the hosts at the Grinnell Tournament. The Vikings moved to 5-3 on the year heading into their CCIW opener versus Millikin in Decatur, Illinois on Wednesday, September 12.
 
BUENA VISTA 3, AUGUSTANA 0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-17)
 
Buena Vista pulled away late in game one, fought off a pair of set points before taking the second game and cruised in the third set of Augustana's opening match Saturday.
 
The Vikings led as late as 18-17 in set one and were tied as late as 19-all,  but a Serena Sandvig kill gave the Beavers the lead for good and they captured six of the final seven points. Mackenzie Gropel's kill finished off a 25-20 Buena Vista win.
 
Augustana rallied from an 18-11 deficit in the second set, putting together an 11-4 run to pull even at 22-22 on a block by senior Taryn VanEarwage (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) and junior Grace Bialobok (Homewood-Flossmoor HS, Homewood, Ill.). The duo teamed up for another block to give the Vikings a 25-24 lead, but the Beavers used a Kylie Roe kill to fight off that set point and another by Megan Vaughan trailing 26-25. An Augustana attack error and another Roe kill closed out the game 28-26 in favor of Buena Vista.
 
The Beavers bolted to a 6-1 lead and coasted to a 25-17 win in set three. Match point came on a Vaughan kill.
 
VanEarwage had a match-high dozen kills for the Vikings. Junior Brooke Keegan (Hall HS, Ladd, Ill.) led Augustana with seven assists, senior McKenzie Zambrano (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) and sophomore Jessica Nguyen (Kaneland HS, Elburn, Ill.) with nine digs apiece and Bialobok with four blocks. Juniors Brooke Harmon (Lindbergh HS, St. Louis, Mo.) and Madi Glatz (Morton HS, Morton, Ill.) each had a pair of service aces.
 
AUGUSTANA 3, GRINNELL 1 (28-30, 27-25, 25-22, 27-25)
 
Bethke's bunch got off to a rough start in its second match as well, but rallied to take three straight sets for a 3-1 win over the host Pioneers.
 
Grinnell led 21-13 in set one before a Bialobok kill sparked a string of 10 straight Viking points. The final nine of those came with senior Victoria Biggerstaff (Broomfield HS, Broomfield, Colo.) serving and when her turn finally ended following an Augustana attack error, the visitors led 23-22. However, the Pioneers fought off set points at 25-24 and 26-25 and eventually won 30-28 on a Hannah Taylor kill.
 
The hosts led early again in game two, but the Vikings rallied, eventually taking their first lead at 20-19 on a Bialobok kill. Grinnell came back to have set points leading 24-23 and 25-24, but junior Taylor Steger (Red Wing HS, Goodhue, Minn.) countered each with a kill and a Zambrano ace and an Emily Uglem (Moorhead HS, Moorehead, Minn.) kill closed out a 27-25 Augustana win.
 
A 6-0 run with Biggerstaff on the serve keyed a 25-22 Viking win in game three, taking the score from 9-9 to 15-9 in favor of Augustana. Grinnell came back to get as close as one point (20-19), but kills by Uglem and Biggerstaff gave Bethke's crew some breathing room before Nguyen finally set Steger for a kill to end the game.
 
Neither team led by more than three points in the fourth set until the Vikings went ahead 22-17. They would never trail again, although the Pioneers forged ties at 24 and 25-all. A Grinnell service error gave Augustana a 26-25 lead and Uglem and Harmon teamed up on a block for match point.
 
Five Vikings posted double-digit kills led by Bialobok's 17. VanEarwage and Steger had 14 each, Uglem a dozen and Biggerstaff 10. Zambrano and freshman Olivia Doak (Crystal Lake Central HS, Crystal Lake, Ill.) dished out 22 and 19 assists, respectively and Nguyen's 27 led four Augustana players with double-figure digs. Bialobok was in on six blocks, Harmon and Uglem five apiece and Steger four.
 
Grinnell's Kaylin Kuhn posted a match-high 32 kills.