MOORHEAD, Minn. – The resilient Augustana volleyball team faced several uphill battles but defeated Minnesota State University Moorhead in five sets on the Dragons’ home court.  The 19-25, 25-19, 14-25, 25-19, 18-26 victory improves the Vikings; record to 15-7 overall, 9-4 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action and MSU Moorhead falls to 12-10 overall, 4-9 in NSIC competition.
 
Augsutana improves their all-time record to 15-6 over MSU Moorhead including a 4-1 record in Moorhead, Minn.  Head coach Ashley Buckley now sits at 5-3 against the Dragons.
 
The Vikings came out flat and were outmatched by the Dragons in the first set, losing 25-19.  Augustana was forced into nine attack errors and hit at a .103 clip while giving up 15 kills in the first set.
 
Augustana hopped out to a big lead in the second set, but MSU Moorhead would not go quietly and charged back on an 8-1 run to tighten up game.  Jordan Spatenka closed the door on a Dragon comeback with three kills to end the set 25-19.  Spatenka finished with seven kills in the second set, alone.
 
The crucial third set was neck-and-neck to start then MSU Moorhead built a lead breaking a tie with eight straight points to lead 16-8.  The Dragons stayed hot and built a 21-10 cushion and coasted to a 25-14 third set victory.  The Vikings were held to a -.023 attach percentage on just seven kills with eight errors.
 
The Vikings came out firing after dropping the third set in an ugly manner and led 9-2 forcing MSU Moorhead to burn a timeout.  Augustana then expanded that lead to 16-5, forcing another Dragon timeout.  MSU Moorhead then closed the gap to just 19-14, the Vikings used a timeout of their own to squelch the MSU Moorhead momentum.  Kayla Wallerich thwarted the Dragon comeback with superb play from the service line, including icing the set with an ace.
 
Once again, the Dragons hopped out to a big lead early, reaching 7-2 at one point.  The Vikings fought back though, eventually tying the set at 8-8.  The Vikings then ran to a 13-9 lead but the resilient Dragons took the lead back at 14-13.  Back and forth it went with Spatenka notching two huge kills to keep the Vikings alive before Taylor Hrdlichka finished off the Dragons with a kill for the 18-16 fifth-set win.
 
Spatenka tallied a match-high 17 kills and followed by Holly Hafemeyer’s 15 and Courtney Ysker and Hrdlichka’s 12 each.  Ysker also scooped up 20 digs for her second double-double of the year.
 
Grace Sanders led the Vikings with 24 digs, and Marissa Johnson paired her 11 digs with 52 assists for her fourth double-double of the 2012 campaign.
 
The Vikings now head to Aberdeen, S.D. for a 6:30 p.m. match with Northern State tomorrow.