ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - The Augustana Vikings women's volleyball team split a pair of matches on Wednesday inside the Carver Center, defeating the visiting Central College Dutch in consecutive sets before falling to the Cornell Rams in four in the night cap.

In the opener, the two teams played an evenly-matched first set, with the largest lead by any team getting to just three points. With the Dutch leading 21-18, the Vikings rattled off four consecutive points to take the lead back in their favor. Central brought the score to even at 23, but back-to-back kills for the Vikings from Ja'nya Davis and Caroline Hurst gave the home team the first-set win.

It was all Augustana in game two, taking 11 of the first 14 points to jump out to the quick advantage. The Dutch failed to get the Augie margin under seven points the rest of the way and despite a small push from the visitors down the stretch, the Vikings coasted to a 12-point victory at 25-13 to make it 2-0 in the match.

The third set mirrored the first as both teams battled to another evenly-played set, with the Vikings once again erasing a three-point deficit late in the frame. Trailing 16-13, Augie put together a string of five straight points and and seven of the next nine to swing the momentum in their favor. After trading a few scores, the two teams saw themselves deadlocked at 20 before Central jumped out to a 23-21 advantage. A kill from Jaden Julius jump-started a 3-0 run for the Vikings, eventually grabbing the set and match with back-to-back kills from Olivia Doak and Brook Fieldman.

The win for Augustana is the fourth straight over Central College. Emily Schipper led a balanced attack for the Vikings, finishing with a match-high 10 kills. Fieldman was next in line with eight, while Hurst tallied six. Doak led everyone with 29 assists. Grace Vranicar secured a match-high 14 digs for the Vikings.

In the second match of the night, the Vikings took on the Cornell Rams, who were coming off a sweep of Central College prior. After trading points to begin the set, the Rams went on a run to stretch their advantage to seven points on two different occasions. The Vikings made a few strong efforts to climb back in, but the Rams grabbed five of the final seven points of the game to take set one with a final score of 25-13.

Augustana evened things up with a 25-23 second set win. The game saw 12 ties throughout, with the Vikings breaking a 20-20 deadlock with four of the next five points to take control. Cornell made it a game cutting it to one, but a kill by Fieldman sealed the deal and tied the match at one game apiece.

Two mid-game runs in sets three and four helped propel the Rams to back-to-back 25-19 victories to grab the match win at 3-1, making it a split for the Augie women's volleyball team to begin the 2021 season. Fieldman ended with 10 kills to lead the Vikings in match number two.

"It was a good night of volleyball as we expected with two quality teams coming in," said head coach Kelly Bethke. "Our players worked hard and played together. I am proud of the way we fought tonight."

The Vikings will next head out west for a weekend of volleyball in California, beginning with the Whittier Poets on Friday, September 3rd. Augustana and Whittier will kick things off at 4:00 p.m. CST in La Verne, Calif on Friday. The team will then take on Eastern Nazarene approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first match.