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Loper volleyball team rallies past Augustana in NCAA first round
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The 9th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team smashed home a season-high 72 kills, with junior middle Nikki Scott having a season-high 20 of them, to edge 22nd-ranked Augustana (25-27, 25-17, 17-25, 25-23, 25-11) in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament Thursday night in St. Paul, Minn.
UNK (31-3), seeded fifth in the Central Regional, will face defending national champion and top ranked Concordia-St. Paul (31-1), or RMAC Tournament champion, Regis (19-11), in the second round tonight at 8 p.m.
The CSP Golden Bears, winners of 31 straight matches, are hosts of the eight-team regional.
Earlier Thursday, second-seed SW Minnesota State beat seventh-seed Metro State, 3-1, while third-seed Minnesota-Duluth beat sixth-seed Wayne State, 3-1.
In a match that featured 31 ties and 16 lead changes, Augustana (23-11) held an 11-10 lead in the fifth set but a service error by Kati Newgard resulted in the final tie of the night.
UNK took advantage of the unforced error as sophomore middle Jeri Walkowiak (Grand Island) recorded a kill and then the Vikings hit one into the net.
After an Augustana time-out, Grand Island sophomore Kelsey Werner served up her second ace of the match -- the only two the Lopers had -- to push the lead to three.
Fittingly, Scott gave UNK its 23rd all-time NCAA victory with her 20th kill of the match.
The Broken Bow native had five kills in nine swings in the fifth set to cap a near career-best effort. To reach 20 kills, Scott had just 37 attempts and only four errors, good for a .432 attack percentage.
Last year in a four set win over Adams State, Scott recorded 22 kills.
To reach the fifth set, UNK needed to win game four. Leading most of that set, three straight Loper errors tied things up at 19 all.
The set would be knotted at 22 when freshman Shelby Workman (Loveland, Colo.) recorded a kill to give UNK the lead for good. Augustana would get within one point at 24-23 but a block by Scott and sophomore outside Chelsie Carson (Elkhorn) pushed the match to a fifth game.
For the night, UNK hit a solid .283 and dug up 80 balls. In a five set loss to Adams State last Friday, the Lopers had a season-best 82 digs. Augustana was nearly equally to the task, hitting .255 and having 83 digs.
The Vikings also had five more aces then the Lopers but Kearney won the block battle, 8-5.
Besides Scott, Workman and Carson each supplied 15 kills. For Workman, that is a season-high while the figure is just two shy of Carson's best offensive night. The pair reached their 30 kills efficiently, combining to hit .363
Not to be out done, Walkowiak had her fifth double double of the year (13 kills, 12 digs) while having three blocks at the net. Finally, sophomore setter Cola Svec (Elkhorn) had a season-best 62 assists, 12 digs, three blocks and three kills.
Augustana had some monster efforts as well as senior outside Cayla Schroeder had 24 kills and 25 digs.
Next, Bancroft native Ellen Andrews had 10 of her 23 kills in the first set with senior setter Lisa Hoegh supplying 60 assists and 11 digs.