JACKSONVILLE, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings women's volleyball team dropped the season opener on Friday against the Rose-Hulman Engineers by a score of 3-1.
Augie found an early lead after securing the first two points after a bad set by Rose-Hulman and a kill from Mallory Coley. The Vikings grabbed two more from a service error and a kill by Lanah Queckboerner to stretch the early gap to 4-1. The Engineers converted a four-point run to overtake the Vikings with an 8-7 score. An error by Rose-Hulman put Augie back on top, but the Engineers drew even once more before collecting the next two to regain the lead. Both teams went back and forth with points until a six-point run by Rose-Hulman moved the differential to six. The Vikings fought back to get within two after a solo block from Carmela Carbone, but the Engineers secured a 5-2 margin to take the first set 25-20.
In the second set, both teams rallied and faced three ties before the Vikings found four consecutive points to take the 10-6 advantage. Rose-Hulman drew the score even twice before a 4-1 run put the Engineers ahead 17-14. The visitors held the upper hand for the remainder of the set to lead 2-0 overall.
Rose-Hulman found the early lead in the third set until kills from Carbone and Coley put the Vikings back in action. Back-to-back attack errors by the Engineers pushed Augie ahead 4-3, and both teams found deadlocks 11 more times. Rose-Hulman grabbed three to create a 19-16 score. The Vikings converted a 5-1 margin late in the set to tie at 20 apiece after a kill by Alexis Richards before Carli Udovich secured the lead with a successful attack. Both teams were neck and neck for the remainder of the set, with three consecutive attack errors by the Engineers assisting the Vikings in the 25-23 set win to force an extra set.
In the fourth set, Rose-Hulman ran away with the early advantage, with Augie getting within two after a block from Alita Folkening and Lucy Pufundt. The Engineers stretched the gap to 10 and closed the final set with a score of 25-13 to win with an overall score of 3-1.
Coley and Richards led the team with eight kills apiece, while Leah Rizzo had 14 assists. Alyssa Millan and Katelyn Turley collected 12 digs, and Queckboerner followed with 10.
With the loss, Augie begins the season with a 0-1 record. The team will be back in action tomorrow for two more games against Illinois College and Eureka.
