ROCK ISLAND – The Augustana Vikings women's volleyball team split day one of the Viking Classic on Friday. Augie defeated the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks in four sets with a final score of 3-1, while dropping to the Bethel Royals by a score of 3-0.
In the first set, the teams went back and forth before back-to-back errors by Illinois Tech put Augie up 4-2. The Scarlet Hawks drew the score even after two consecutive points, and both teams twice more before a four-point run created a 10-7 score in the Vikings' advantage. The teams rallied points and tied the game at 12 apiece and again at 14-14. Three straight points for Augie moved the advantage back in their favor with a block from Mallory Coley and Carmela Carbone, making a 17-14 score. A kill by Grace Gustafson moved the advantage to four at 20-16, and the Vikings held the advantage with Alexis Richards closing out the set with a kill to take the set 25-22.
Augie quickly found the upper hand in the second set after a kill by Gustafson and two errors by the visiting team. The Vikings maintained the lead and stretched the gap to as many as six after a bad set by the Scarlett Hawks to make an 11-5 score. The team found this gap once more after a kill by Alita Folkening moved the game to 21-15. A late rally by Illinois Tech moved the game to 24-22, but Richards closed out the set with a score of 25-22 to lead 2-0 overall.
In the third set, the Vikings created a 5-2 run to grab the early lead and held the advantage until Illinois Tech secured six points to overtake the game 10-8. The Vikings hung around to only trail as high as three, but a late four points put the Scarlett Hawks up 21-16. The visitors claimed the set to force a fourth set with a 2-1 overall score.
Both teams rallied back in the fourth set, until a 6-1 run put the visitors up 9-6. Three consecutive points by Augie drew the score even, and a kill by Folkening moved the lead in the Vikings' favor. The teams drew the score even six additional times before four consecutive points moved the score in Illinois Tech's favor with a 20-18 score. A kill by Richards tied the game at 20 apiece, and before a successful attack by Folkening, pushed Augie ahead 21-20. Both teams tied twice more before three points moved the Vikings ahead 24-22, and a kill by Richards closed the fourth set with a score of 25-23.
Richards led the team with 16 kills, while Leah Rizzo notched 32 assists and Katelyn Turley had 18 digs.
In the second matchup, Bethel secured the early lead with a 7-3 run. The Royals ran away with the lead to take the first set 25-17. In the second set, Augie found the early advantage after four consecutive points put the team ahead 6-4 after a kill by Carli Udovich. The visitors closed the gap twice before taking the lead for the rest of the set to lead 2-0 overall. Bethel took the third set 25-18.
Udovich led in game two with seven kills, while Rizzo collected 12 assists and Turley had 16 digs.
With the split record, Augie moves to 3-4 on the season and will be back in action for day two of the Viking Classic tomorrow for games against Hamline and MSOE.
