Volleyball 10/21/05 -- Augsburg 3, Macalester 2 (31-33, 30-23, 30-16, 16-30, 15-12)

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (10/21/05) -- Playing in her final home match at Augsburg College, Linnea Evans * (Sr., Kenyon, Minn./Kenyon-Wanamingo HS) claimed a triple-double with 12 kills, 19 assists and 16 digs, and Sarah Bradley (So., International Falls, Minn.) scored a double-double with 20 kills and 17 digs, as Augsburg scored a victory in five games over Macalester College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference volleyball match Friday evening at Si Melby Hall.

In its first five-game match of the season, Augsburg won by scores of 31-33, 30-23, 30-16, 16-30, 15-12 to improve to 6-21 overall, 2-7 in MIAC play. Augsburg is 4-4 in its last eight matches. Macalester drops to 10-17 overall, 3-7 in MIAC play. There were 23 ties and eight lead changes in the match.

It was Augsburg's first win in five games since a 3-2 win over St. Catherine on Sept. 11, 2004, and Augsburg's first victory over the Scots since the 1998 season, breaking an 11-match losing streak to Macalester.

Billie Painschab * (Sr., Howard Lake, Minn./Howard Lake-Waverly HS) had 11 kills and five blocks (one solo), while Katie LaGrave (So., Okinawa, Japan/Kadena HS) had 10 kills and a block. Dani Boner (Fr., Omaha, Neb./Mercy HS) had eight kills, 19 digs, two blocks and five aces; Haley Bower (So., Brainerd, Minn.) had 25 digs, and Alexis Johnson (Sr., Oakdale, Minn./North St. Paul HS) had 33 assists, two aces and six digs. Britt Bogner (Sr., Burnsville, Minn./Apple Valley HS) had two aces for the Auggies.

Macalester was paced by Lauren Eberhart (Jr., Madelia, Minn.), who had 23 kills, six digs and four blocks. The Scots also received double-double performances from Maggie Buttermore (Sr., Lincoln, Neb./East HS), with 13 kills, 22 digs and six blocks (one solo); and from Sonia Muzikarova (Fr., Bratislava, Slovakia/Gymnazium Bilikova HS), with 12 kills, 12 digs and a block.

Bonnie Driscoll (Jr., LeMars, Iowa/Gehlen Catholic HS) had 13 kills and four blocks for the Scots, while Kari Tanaka (So., Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) had 26 assists, three aces and six digs; Brianna Keefe-Oates (So., Encinitas, Calif./San Dieguito Academy) had 25 assists and five digs; Denitza Batchvarova (Sr., Pleven, Bulgaria/Mathematical HS) had 30 digs; Stephanie Nelson (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park HS) had 10 digs; and Suzy Szumowski (Fr., Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) had four blocks (one solo).

Augsburg built a 19-10 lead in the first game, but it evaporated on the heels of a 16-6 scoring run by the Scots. Macalester finished the game on two straight kills by Buttermore. Eberhart and Driscoll had five kills apiece for the Scots in the first game, with Driscoll adding three blocks. Buttermore had four kills and two blocks in the first game. Bradley and Painschab had five kills each for the Auggies in the first game.

Augsburg again built a big lead in the second game -- 19-11 -- and was able to maintain the advantage to knot the match at a game apiece. Evans had five kills, six assists and seven digs in the second game, while Bradley had four kills and eight digs. Buttermore had seven kills and 10 digs in the second game for the Scots.

Augsburg sprinted to victory in the third game, building a 26-9 lead. Evans had four kills and Bradley had three kills for the Auggies, who hit .393 as a team in the third game (14 kills, three errors in 28 attempts). Eberhart had six kills for the Scots in the third game.

The sprint was in favor of Macalester in the fourth game, as the Scots built a 18-9 advantage and didn't look back, hitting .325 as a team (17 kills, four errors in 40 attempts). Meanwhile, Augsburg hit minus-.045 (nine kills, 11 errors in 46 attempts) in the fourth game. Eberhart had seven kills in the fourth game, with Muzikarova and Driscoll adding four kills each.

Neither team led by more than three points in the deciding fifth game, as both teams hit above .400 -- Augsburg hit .400 (nine kills, one error in 20 attempts), while Macalester hit .444 (nine kills, one error in 18 attempts). Bradley had six of Augsburg's nine kills in the fifth game, hitting .750 (zero errors in eight attempts). Muzikarova had four kills and Eberhart had three kills for the Scots.

Friday's match was the final home appearance at Si Melby Hall for four Augsburg seniors -- Evans, Painschab, Johnson and Bogner.

Augsburg has two matches on the road to close the regular season -- at Bethel on Saturday (10/22) at 5 p.m. and at Hamline on Wednesday (10/26) at 7 p.m. Macalester returns to MIAC action with a match at Bethel on Wednesday at 7 p.m.