CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- The Augustana Vikings women's volleyball team went 1-1 on Saturday at the Mabel Lee Invite, defeating the Buena Vista Beavers by a score of 3-1 (25-19, 25-9, 24-26, 25-13) before falling to the host school Coe Kohawks 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-16).
Match One (W 3-1 vs. Buena Vista)
Augie jumped out a lead as big as six in the opening set on two different occasions before a 4-0 scoring outburst from the Beavers brought the margin to two. The Vikings bounced back with four straight points of their own and countered another Buena Vista 3-0 spurt with three straight scores to face set point. Augie closed out the opening frame with a kill from
Caroline Hurst to give themselves a 1-0 advantage.
Set two was all Augustana, jumping out to a 15-4 lead. Following a couple of traded points, the Vikings ended the game with eight of the final nine points scored to coast to a 25-9 victory. The Beavers fought back to force a fourth set following a back-and-forth 26-24 victory in the third, but the Vikings sealed up the match with another dominating performance, winning the fourth 25-13 to clinch the 3-1 match victory.
Three different Vikings tallied double-digit kills, led by Hurst with 15.
Emily Schipper finished with 14, while
Syd Krueger had 10 with a .412 hitting percentage.
Amelie Baehr-Ross tied a season-high with 34 assists and
Grace Vranicar finished with a season-best 25 digs to help lead the Augie to victory.
Match Two (L 3-1 vs. Coe)
The Vikings started their second match of the day on a high note, winning a hard-fought opening set with a 25-23 score. Augie trailed for just two rallies in the opening set, taking the lead at 13-12 and holding on the rest of the way.
Coe grabbed the first five points of the second set, but saw their lead vanish as Augie took the lead at 10-8 and then again at 11-10. The Kohawks answered with a 5-1 run and late on added five consecutive points to pull away and even the match at one win apiece following a 25-19 set two victory. The home team added wins in the third and fourth to complete the 3-1 win.
Schipper led the way with a team-high 10 kills.
With the day's results, the Vikings now sit at 5-3 overall. The team will remain on the road for their next match and CCIW opener on Wednesday, September 14 when they visit the Wheaton Thunder. Start time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. from Wheaton, Ill.
