The Saints were coming off a five-set thriller the night before against William Penn University, but Wednesday's match was quick, efficient and left the winless Vikings searching for more answers when they left Kehl Arena.
Ashford downed Augustana in their last meeting since 2005 at the Knox College Invitational even though the junior varsity squads met in 2008.
"It's still early in the year and we weren't really worried about fatigue tonight," AU Head Coach Micah Cewe said. "But I'm going to be hard on the team a little bit. In games one and two I didn't think we were clicking. We need to click from the very beginning and carry through the duration of our match."
Another good-sized home crowd showed up to cheer on the Saints. Sophomore setter and team captain Whitney Miller of Clinton said that helped carry leftover adrenaline that was still alive when the match began.
"I think we were still pretty upbeat after last night and still had that emotional high," Miller said. "We were still really hyped and it's important to get on a roll before conference play continues. We just gotta roll with it."
Sophomore middle hitter Kelsay McCausland of Camanche nailed down four kills in the first set as Augustana had trouble dealing with the Saints' height on the front row. The AU defense hounded the Vikings into eight attack errors in the first set to control the tempo the rest of the way.
Freshman outside hitter Sarah Wenzel of Clinton received the first start of her career and had a pair of kills while junior defensive specialist Samantha Moller of Silvis, Ill., led the team in digs again with 14.
MCC action resumes next Tuesday when the Ashford plays host to Grand View University at 7 p.m.
