Box Score #14 Augustana 3 #4 Wayne State 1

            #14 Augustana rallied from a first set deficit to down #4 Wayne State College 22-25, 25-11, 25-20, 25-20 Northern Sun Conference volleyball victory Tuesday evening over the Wildcats at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The host Vikings improve to 10-1 and 3-0 in league play while WSC drops to 9-2 and 1-2 in the NSIC.
            The Wildcats got off to a quick start, taking a 5-0 lead on the Vikings following a service ace from senior Michaela Mestl.  But the Vikings rallied and took a 15-12 lead to force a WSC timeout.  WSC responded and regained the lead at 18-17 on a Bree Ackermann service ace. 
            Augustana came back to knot the score at 22, but WSC used kills from Mestl and Erin Gross for a 24-22 lead and the 'Cats finished with the 25-22 first set win.
            The Vikings secured momentum for the rest of the match in the second set by controlling the Wildcats, taking a 10-4 lead early in the set that led to a convincing 25-11 set win.  WSC was held to just seven kills in the set while Augustana reeled off 17 kills and hit .371 to even the match.
            The third set saw the host Vikings jump out to a 7-2 lead and never let WSC get any closer than four points as the Vikings topped the 'Cats 25-20 to take a 2-1 match lead.
            Wayne State battled the Vikings in the fourth set with eight ties and five lead changes, but Augustana rallied from an 18-16 deficit in the set to score nine of the final 11 points of the set to win 25-20.
            Augustana finished the match with a .236 to .160 hitting advantage over the Wildcats that included a 66-45 edge in kills.  Both teams had seven blocks in the contest while Augustana had an 80-73 advantage in digs on WSC.
            Senior Michaela Mestl recorded her fifth double-double of the year with 13 kills and 21 digs to lead Wayne State.  Senior Alyssa Frauendorfer added 11 kills followed by Natalie Vondrak with 10. 
            Freshman libero Haley Kauth was credited with 19 digs followed by sophomore Megan Gebhardt with 12 to go with 38 set assists.  Senior Alex Opperman had four blocks for WSC with Erin Gross and Vondrak each adding three.
            Wayne State will be on the road again this weekend, visiting MSU Moorhead Friday at 7 p.m. and #11 Northern State Saturday in a 6 p.m. contest.