DULUTH, Minn. — The Augsburg University volleyball team opened Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a four-set victory over the College of St. Scholastica on Friday, using a season-high 12 team blocks to secure the victory.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Augsburg def. St. Scholastica 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 25-20, 25-13)
LOCATION: Reif Gym, Duluth, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 4-7 overall (1-0 MIAC), St. Scholastica 4-8 overall (0-1 MIAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Auggies scored first on
Lilly Wynn's kill from
Jovial King in the first set, but the Saints moved ahead 7-4 before
Ameerah Rogers' kill and two Saints attack errors pulled the Auggies level at 7-7.
Elise Uphoff's ace gave the Auggies an 8-7 lead, and
Ava Carlson later served an ace to make it 12-8, but the Saints scored five straight points — including three Lilli Rechichi kills and a Cassidy Lustig ace — to turn the Auggies' 16-13 lead into an 18-16 deficit. The Auggies came back with three straight and went up 19-18 on
Lola Pilon's ace, then moved ahead 22-20 on
Aloaha Ricke's kill after the teams traded points. The Saints tied the set at 23-23, but Ricke answered with a kill for set point and King served an ace to close the Auggies' 25-23 win.
The Saints built an 8-4 lead in the second set with two service aces and kills from Grace Sandmeyer, but the Auggies worked back to 9-9 as Ricke and
Grace Hamilton put down kills and King served an ace. The teams traded points through the middle of the set, and the Auggies moved in front 12-11 on
Taliah Triggs' kill before the Saints answered with a block and kills by Sandmeyer and Ava Decker for a 14-12 advantage. The Saints later pushed the margin to 19-15, but the Auggies cut it to 19-18 on kills by Ricke and Hamilton and a block by Hamilton and Wynn. The Saints answered with three straight points, including a Lilli Rechichi kill and consecutive Abby Zins kills, and finished the set 25-20 after a Cassidy Lustig kill and a Decker block on the final point.
The Auggies erased an 8-5 deficit with five straight points in the third set, including a King kill and a King/Hamilton block during Carlson's service turn, to go ahead 10-8. The Saints answered with four consecutive points to lead 12-10 and later pushed the margin to 17-12, but the Auggies cut it to 17-15 on a bad set, Wynn's block and a Triggs kill. Rogers followed with back-to-back kills and Pilon served an ace to tie the set at 18-18, and after the Saints moved back ahead 19-18, Triggs tied it again with a kill. Uphoff then served the Auggies to five straight points, with two Ricke kills, an ace and a King kill putting the Auggies at 24-19 before Ricke closed the 25-20 set win with a kill.
During Ricke's service turn, the Auggies built a 6-1 lead in the fourth set, getting kills from Wynn, Triggs and Hamilton before Triggs added another point. The Saints cut the margin to 11-6 on a Grace Sandmeyer kill after Pilon's ace and Rogers' block had helped the Auggies move ahead 11-4. Triggs put the Auggies at 12-6 with a kill, and Uphoff served six straight points to 18-6 during a stretch that included Ricke kill, Rogers kill, blocks involving Ricke, Rogers and King, and two Saints setting errors. The Saints picked up late kills from Tayte Borstad, Lilli Rechichi and Abby Zins, but the Auggies scored the final four points from 21-13 on a service error, Rogers block and two setting errors to take the set 25-13.
AUGSBURG TOP PERFORMERS
•
Aloaha Ricke: Team-high 13 kills, 8 digs, 13.5 points
•
Taliah Triggs:12 kills, .313 hitting percentage, 12.5 points
- Recorded at least 12 kills in 3 consecutive games.
- Reached the 100 kills milestone, totaling 101.
•
Jovial King: Team-high 33 assists, 11 digs, 5 blocks, 2 service aces
- Claimed her ninth assist-dig double-double of the season and the 29th of her Auggie career.
•
Maggie Lile: Team-high 20 digs, 4 assists, 1 service ace
•
Ameerah Rogers: Team-high 7 blocks, including 2 solo, 5 kills, .313 hitting percentage, 9.5 points
- Set a new career-high with 7 total blocks.
UP NEXT
The Auggies host Gustavus Adolphus College in a MIAC match on Friday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. at Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis.
