Augustana Swept by Southwest Minnesota State in Road Volleyball Loss
The short version
- Southwest Minnesota State beat Augustana 3-0 (25-13, 27-25, 29-27) in Marshall on Saturday.
- Augustana rallied from 18-9 down to 21-19 in the third set before losing it 29-27.
- Lucy Belisle led the Vikings with nine kills and one block assist.
- Kiylah Franke added 28 assists, eight digs and a solo block.
- Augustana visits Sioux Falls on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 6 p.m.
The Vikings pushed the second and third sets to the wire but dropped a 3-0 decision to the Mustangs in Marshall on Saturday.
Augustana volleyball absorbed a 3-0 road defeat against Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minnesota, on Saturday. The Mustangs took the match by set scores of 25-13, 27-25 and 29-27, though the Vikings made the last two frames competitive until the final points.
The opening set began badly for the visitors, who trailed 4-1 before clawing back to 4-4 behind a Kelby Opland kill, a Maya Wente block against Natalie Pilney and a Mustang attack error. Southwest Minnesota State responded with a surge to a 9-4 advantage, a run that included a Leah Jones kill, two straight Pilney aces and a block from Lindsay Kruse and Jones.
The home side extended its cushion to 16-7 before Sydney Tims and Reagan Jansen helped Augustana trim the gap to 16-10. A five-point burst pushed the Mustangs to 22-10, featuring a Mollie Rupp kill and consecutive winners from Pilney. Abby Gruber and Wente recorded late kills, but Jones finished the set at 25-13.
Set two started better, with Augustana moving ahead 4-1 on a Wente kill and a series of Southwest Minnesota State errors. The Mustangs flipped the score to 5-4 before Belisle's kill leveled things, and the two sides exchanged slim margins through the middle portion of the frame.
After Southwest Minnesota State drew even at 17-17 and went in front 19-18 on a Tatem Schmidt ace, Augustana kept answering through kills from Wente, Belisle and Gruber. Gruber tied the set at 24-24 after a Paige Steinmetz ace had given the Mustangs set point, then made it 25-25 with another kill. Ashley Peltier's kill and a closing block gave Southwest Minnesota State the 27-25 decision.
In the third, Julia Blom's ace brought the score to 4-4 before the Mustangs raced out to an 18-9 lead, with Tatem Schmidt serving the final five points of that stretch. Augustana chipped away with kills from Wente and Kiylah Franke plus a Jansen ace, and a Belisle kill brought the deficit to 21-20 after five consecutive points.
The set stayed tight down the stretch. Jansen's kill evened it at 23-23 and back-to-back Mustang attack errors handed Augustana a 25-24 edge, and the teams traded points to 27-27 before a Jones kill and a Viking attack error closed the match at 29-27.
Individually, Lucy Belisle paced Augustana with nine kills and a block assist. Wente contributed eight kills on .300 hitting with two solo blocks for 10 points, Franke tallied 28 assists, eight digs and a solo block, and Alexis Nelson gathered 13 digs along with a kill.
Augustana's next outing comes Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 6 p.m., when the Vikings travel across town to face Sioux Falls.
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