By: Halston Evans, Augustana Athletic Communications

Tournament Website

ST. PAUL Minn. – The Augustana volleyball team defeated No. 2 Wayne State (23-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-23, 15-8) Friday night to advance to the semifinals of the NSIC Tournament.. 

The Vikings advance to a 20-9 overall record while Wildcats move to a 29-2 record.

The opening set began with traded back and forth points between the Vikings and the Wildcats. Wayne State gained slight momentum with an early 4-0 run but a Viking 6-2 kill spree brought AU ahead. Kate Reimann and Kia Kriener each shared two points apiece to deliver the Viking run for a three point lead. The Vikings led from there extending the scoring gap as large as four. Both sides of the net continued to trade points back-and-forth until a rallied set point and a Viking attack error gave the Wildcats set one. 

Following in suit of the first set, the second set was opened by a trade of kills and errors. Neither side of the net took advantage of a scoring run early, however a mid-set fire was ignited among the Vikings taking a cool seven point advantage over the Wildcats. Fueling the fire was Kriener delivering one kill and walling up a block as well as senior Maddy Guetter starting the Viking run with a kill and an ace. The Vikings stayed ahead never dropping their lead, the Viking were able to overpower the Wildcat defense with 16 kills hitting at an efficient .220 attack percentage. A final kill rained down by senior Piper Asche delivered Augustana its first set win of the night. 

The Wildcats found their footing in the third set, opening the set with an early 5-1 lead. The Vikings fought back, hammering down back-to-back kills by Guetter and a stealth dump by senior setter Avery Thorson. Wayne State was able to capitalize on Viking attack errors to bridge the scoring gap as large as seven at four points away from set point for the Wildcats. Back-to-back points by Kriener and Guetter held off the Wildcats at set points until a final kill by Wayne State secured a second set win for the Wildcats.

Guetter was feeling it into the fourth set hammering down xx kills in the fourth set alone. The Vikings and Wildcats stayed neck-and-neck until the Vikings pulled ahead early exposing Wildcats attack errors. Bridging the gap as large as five Augustana established their dominance at the net. Jolie Stecher reigned in a second set win for the Vikings delivering back-to-back aces forcing a fifth set with the Wildcats. 

The fifth and final set was opened by a hot 4-1 lead by the Vikings led by Kate Reimann with two of the four kills. The Wildcats responded by taking hold of Viking attack errors to make up four of their five points. However the Vikings kept the momentum rolling exploiting Wildcat attack errors and hammering down a final kill delivered by Asche. 

Augustana tied the NSIC Tournament high of 82 kills to cap off its spectacular performance on the night. The Vikings were led by Guetter with 24 kills and 26 points followed closely behind Reimann with 22 kills and 23.5 points. Piper Asche had a stellar performance throwing down the final kill to deliver the Vikings their first win of the NSIC Tournament to top off her 12th kill of the night hitting an awe striking .706 attack percentage. Kriener dug up 26 digs in tonight's match while adding 16 kills to her stat line. 

Up Next 
The Vikings take on the No. 9 Huskies of St. Cloud State tomorrow afternoon in the NSIC Semifinals at 7:30 p.m.

–GoAugie.com–