SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus volleyball team was able to force a fifth set Saturday in its home opener, but lost in the tiebreaker to Saint Mary’s to drop to 1-1 overall. The Gusties lost by scores of 25-18, 17-25, 25-27, 25-15, 13-15.
“It was good to go five sets with Saint Mary’s because they are a very scrappy team,” Assistant Coach Alyssa Taylor said. “As a lot of the players talked about at the end of the game, we had a bunch of people in positions that they’ve never been in before, along with a lot of freshmen on the court. They might have been uncomfortable in those situations but they didn’t show it and they really went after it. There are definitely things we need to clean up. We had some untimely errors and we just need to do better at controlling those things, but big props to Saint Mary’s with their effort today.”
Gustavus started the opening set on a 6-1 run and never looked back. The Cardinals were able to come within two points midway through the set, but the Gusties answered by taking eight of the final 11 rallies for a 25-18 win. In the second set, the Gusties started with four unforced errors and were unable to fully recover in a 25-17 loss.
The start of the third set fared much better for the home squad as it won the first five points to force a Saint Mary’s timeout, but the Cardinals clawed back with a 7-1 run to tie the score at 15-15. From that point on, there were three tie scores and three lead changes. Gustavus held set point but the Cardinals finished the set on a 5-1 run for a 27-25 win.
The fourth set started as a back-and-forth affair before the Gusties went on a 6-2 run to force a Cardinal timeout at 13-8. Gustavus continued to hold the momentum and outscored the visitors 12-7 the rest of the way to force a fifth set.
Gustavus started the fifth with a 4-2 lead before the Cardinals responded with a 5-1 run to force a timeout. The Gusties eventually regained the lead at 12-10, but Saint Mary’s replied by winning five of the last six rallies to secure the win.
Gustavus hit .222 on the attack, led by Kate Holtan (Sr., Rochester) with 22 kills. Marlee Turn (Fy., Kennedy) was also productive on the front line with 15 kills. The Gusties struggled at times on the serve with 13 errors. Stepping in as the primary setter in the third set, Kasie Tweet (Fy., Adrian) finished with 38 assists and had 19 digs for a double-double.
“I think Kate and Marlee stepped up big time down the line,” Taylor said. “Kasie came in and ran our offense really well after not having a lot of practice time leading up to the game.”
Gustavus next hosts Hamline at 7 p.m. Tuesday.