Macalester volleyball came back from a narrow defeat at the hands of 19th ranked Concordia-Moorhead last week, shutting out an Augsburg team with a 7-9 overall record . Fueled by strong play at the net, Macalester made the most of its size advantage, taking an early 8-4 lead in the first game.

Mac’s service game forced hurried returns from the Auggies, setting up what became the theme of the afternoon- devastating spikes from Lauren Eberhart ‘06 and Bethany Tate ‘05. Augsburg never had the chance to string points together and Macalester took the first game handily 30-20.

Mac’s energy continued into the second game as mistakes from Augsburg piled up. Mac had a brilliant sequence in which a dig that ricocheted off the rafters was set beautifully and converted into a point that gave Mac an 8-1 lead. At this point the Scots’ intensity waned; Augsburg began to surge and eventually tied the game at 18 points apiece.

Fortunately for Mac, sophomore Bonnie Driscol delivered two successive kills, stifling the Auggie rally and ushering Macalester to a 30-25 second game win.

Game three saw Mac trailing early on account of careless play and miscommunication. The team collected itself and quickly rallied to an 8-8 tie. However, Augsburg matched Macalester’s intensity and the two teams battled to 19-19 with no more than two points having separated the teams. At this point the Scots reverted to the style of play with which they opened the game.

First year Briana Keefe-Oates delivered a series of pinpoint sets and the Scots frontcourt made the most of the opportunities. Mac pulled ahead and never looked back, appropriately icing the game on an Eberhart spike. “Lauren had the golden touch,” Tate said of Eberhart, who hammered home twenty-two kills at 47.6% accuracy.

Driscoll and Tate struck for 13 and 11 kills respectively while Senior May Lin Kessenich added fine defensive play with 19 digs and Keefe-Oates provided 46 assists. Macalester’s victorious effort however, was a story of team wide contributions. After the game Tate commented, “[This is a team] where everyone does their job well.”