DECATUR, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings women's volleyball team picked up a road win over Millikin on Friday by a score of 3-1 (17-25, 29-27, 25-21, 26-24), their first victory over the Big Blue since 2007.
The home team jumped out to the first five points of the contest and saw their opening-set lead grow to as many as ten on their way to a 1-0 lead in the match. Augie responded with an early scoring run in the second set, grabbing 10 of the first 11 points scored for the early advantage. Millikin stormed back, eventually flipping a 17-15 deficit into a 20-17 lead with five straight points. Trailing by three at 22-19, Augustana rallied with four straight of their own to regain the lead, but lost it shortly after as the Big Blue faced set point. The two teams traded points for several rallies and finally it was the Vikings that broke free of the deadlock, as a service error and a block from
Syd Krueger and
Emily Schipper gave Augie the 29-27 victory to even the match.
In set three, Augie found themselves with another early lead at 9-5, but again Millikin bounced back with a scoring outburst to switch the score in their favor. With the home team up 12-10, Augustana rattled off six straight points to take back their four-point advantage, eventually holding on to that four-point margin all the way to the end with a 25-21 victory to give them a 2-1 lead in the match.
Set four saw more back-and-forth play, with neither team seeing a lead eclipse three points. Despite the close battle, Augie did not see their first lead until 15-14. The Vikings held onto their advantage for a few rallies, but Millikin answered with a 3-0 spurt to go up 22-20. Augustana tied it up at 22, but once again Millikin saw set point later on with a 24-23 advantage. Consecutive errors from the Big Blue put the Vikings back up in front and a kill from
Ja'Nya Davis closed out the hard-fought win as Augie took set four by a score of 26-24 to claim the match 3-1.
Millikin out-hit Augustana 61-37 in kills, but committed 27 attack and 20 service errors.
Caroline Hurst led the offensive efforts for Augie with 15 kills, followed by 10 from Schipper and seven from
Jaden Julius.
Amelie Baehr-Ross finished with 30 assists and a team-high 18 digs, while Krueger assisted on seven blocks to go with one solo.
With the win, the Vikings improve to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in CCIW action. It's the first victory over the Big Blue since 2007, snapping a streak of 16 straight losses to Millikin. Augustana will be back in action Tuesday, September 27 for a non-conference match on the road at Dominican. Start time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. from River Forest, Ill.
