2009 AUGSBURG INVITATIONAL PAGE
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MINNEAPOLIS -- In a tournament featuring three nationally-ranked teams, two volleyball teams from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference emerged unbeaten after the first day of the 28th annual Augsburg Invitational on Friday at Si Melby Hall.

No. 7-ranked St. Thomas and No. 21-ranked St. Benedict were unbeaten after the first day, with both teams sweeping their two matches. St. Thomas claimed sweeps of Lawrence (Wis.) and host Augsburg, while St. Benedict opened with a sweep of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and followed with a sweep of No. 13-ranked Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

The Blazers used a 13-kill effort from Calleigh Brown, to go along with eight kills and three blocks from Kayli Schumacher and five kills from Chelsie Sobieck, to score a 25-20, 25-21, 25-19 win over Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the battle of ranked teams. Brown had 22 kills on the day, with a tournament-leading 3.67 kills-per-set average. She hit .391 on the day.

Augsburg, which went 1-1 on the day with a sweep of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a loss to St. Thomas, featured the tournament's blocking leader in senior Barbara Simmons. Simmons had 10 blocks (two solo) on the day, while also collecting 11 kills.

Leading the tournament in assists was St. Thomas' Emily Foster, who had 52, while St. Benedict's Beth Hanson had 51. The Tommies' Katie Bonine had a tournament-leading eight service aces on the first day, while the Tommies' Kaitlin Wachter led the way in the tournament with 42 digs.

For host Augsburg, Katie Christensen led the way with 17 kills and five service aces in the Auggies' two matches, while Amanda Unze had 14 kills and six blocks. Setter Shanna Reed collected 32 assists on the day, and libero Dani Tanaka had 32 digs.

The tournament concludes on Saturday (9/12), starting at 9 a.m., at Si Melby Hall.