ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Augustana Vikings women's volleyball team erased a two-set deficit on Thursday to defeat the visiting Knox Prairie Fire in both teams' season openers.
 
Augie began the match with four of the game's first five points and held an advantage all the way until Knox evened the score at 12-12. From there, the Prairie Fire capped off a 6-0 spurt with four more points in a row to take a four-point lead and held the advantage until pushing it to their largest of the set at 22-17. Knox took a 1-0 lead in the match following a 25-21 game one victory.
 
In set two, Augie led for a majority of the first half of the frame until Knox grabbed a one-point lead at 10-9. The two teams traded points until a 5-0 run lifted the Vikings to a 20-15 lead at the time. Knox answered with nine straight scores of their own to regain control of the game and hold on for the 25-21 set two triumph and push their match lead to 2-0.
 
The Vikings came out fired up in the third set, securing the first three points for another early advantage. The lead grew to 7-2 and then pushed up to eight following a 5-0 outburst from the Vikings. Following a Knox timeout, Augustana continued to pull away, eventually doubling their lead at 20-10 before closing out the set with a double-digit win to cut the match deficit in half.
 
Trailing in the match, the Vikings endured a couple of early deficits early on in the fourth set, but eventually caught up and ended up trading points with the Prairie Fire until each team had 15 points apiece. Augie broke the deadlock with a quick 3-0 spurt and grew their differential to four at 22-18 before capping off the set with an ace to take it by a score of 25-19 and force a fifth and final game.
 
Augustana grabbed five of the first six points in the fifth set to force an early Knox timeout. The Prairie Fire inched closer out of the break, but the Vikings led 8-4 at the switch. Knox cut it to one with three straight points, but the Vikings answered with three of their own to maintain their four-point advantage at 11-7. Out of another timeout, Jaden Julius continued the momentum for the Vikings with a service ace to push the lead to five. Augie secured three of the next four points, ending with an attack error from Knox to complete the comeback win for the Vikings.