The Gustavus women’s volleyball team dropped a heartbreaker to Carleton 3-2 in Northfield on Friday night. The Gusties lost the deciding fifth game 15-10. Gustavus falls to 15-6 overall and 3-3 in the MIAC, while Carleton improves to 14-4 overall and 5-2 in the MIAC.
The Gusties got off to a slow start as they dropped the first two games to the Knights 21-30, and 27-30. Coach Kari Eckheart’s squad rallied to get back into the match by winning the third and fourth games by the scores of 30-26 and 30-26. In the fifth and final game, Carleton roared to a commanding 14-5 lead, however the Gusties rallied to score five straight points to cut the lead to 14-10. The Knights closed out the match on a kill by junior middle hitter Katie Freeman.
Gustavus senior hitter Jessica Schaetzke turned in a sparkling performance as she recorded 32 kills, five digs and one block. Schaetzke was one kill shy of the school record for kills in a match which is 33 set by Leigh Stocker in September of 1991. Schaetzke also recorded her 1,000 career kill on the day and moved her career total to 1,017. She becomes only the 10th player in Gustavus volleyball history to record 1,000 kills.