Volleyball takes down AU in 5 sets, drop to Wayne

The Minnesota State volleyball team extended their win streak to three games on Friday against the Augustana Vikings, but was abruptly ended by Wayne State on Saturday.

The Mavericks have historically had a tough time against the Vikings, and Friday was no different. The Mavericks were able to take away the win 3-2, in their first five set match against the Vikings since 2014.

Almost every set was played in a similar fashion, staying neck and neck until just the very end. The Mavericks biggest deficit in the first set was just at two points when they were down 3-1. After that, Minnesota State regained and kept the lead for the entirety of the set, going up 1-0 on the Vikings with a 25-19 win.

Set two played out very similarly, this time though, it went in favor of the Vikings. Augustana jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but the Mavericks slowly crawled their way back into the match, but it would not be enough as the Vikings tied it up at 1-1 with the 25-20 set win.

Once again in set three, AU managed to grab an early lead at 5-2, but some impressive defensive skills from the Mavericks brought them back in and stayed a one point game for the entire set, until it got to 19-19. From then on, the Mavericks went on a 6-2 run and took the lead 2-1 over the Vikings.

With the match point on the table, the Mavericks wanted to end the match right there and then, but the Vikings had other plans.

Just like every other set, Augustana jumped out an early 2-0 lead on the Mavericks, but it stayed just as close for the majority of the set. The first lead greater than two points came when Augustana grabbed the 16-13 lead, but was cut down to just one point, when they led 22-21. That’s exactly when Augustana’s head coach took a timeout to slow down the momentum, and it ended up working. The Vikings got the next three points that they needed to push the match to a fifth set with a 25-21 win.

For the first time all day, the Mavericks were able to get out to a dominant early lead at 6-0, with their sights set on getting out of there with a win.

Augustana made a valiant effort to get back into it, and came close when it was at 7-5. From then on, the Mavericks went on an 8-3 run, taking home the sudden death win and improved their record to 11-7 (6-4 NSIC) on the year.

Come Saturday, Minnesota State was not as lucky.

The Mavericks hosted the No. 5 NCAA Division II team in Wayne State at the Taylor Center.

Wayne State proved why they deserve that ranking in the first set alone with a 25-10 win over the Mavericks. 

WSC grabbed their biggest lead of the set when it got to 21-5, and eventually the win.

In set two, the Mavericks made an attempt in proving they can go toe-to-toe with the best, jumping out to an early lead. When the Mavericks got comfortable in a 12-6 lead, they may have gotten too comfortable.

The Wildcats went on a 5-1 run, making it a two-point game at 13-11, followed by the Mavericks four straight points, followed by another 13-5 run by Wayne State, going up 2-0 on the Mavericks.

MSU and WSC were neck and neck in the third set when it got to 8-8, but the Wildcats put the nail in the coffin after that.

Wayne State went on to score 17 of the next 20 points, winning the set 25-11, and sweeping the Mavericks 3-0.

In light of the defeat, Mara Quam managed to earn nine digs, enough to earn her the title of all-time career digs leader for Minnesota State with 1,742 digs.

The Mavericks will go on the road next weekend to take on No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State, and Sioux Falls.

Feature photo by Mansoor Ahmad/The Reporter