The Gustavus volleyball team won its seventh straight match of the season, 3-1 against Bethel University Wednesday evening in St. Peter. The Gusties won by the scores of 30-14, 30-27, 27-30, and 30-24. Gustavus improves to 13-3 overall and 5-0 in the MIAC. The Royals fall to 11-5 on the season and 3-3 in conference play.
In the first game, Gustavus jumped out to an early 4-0 lead when Jessica Plemel (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.) hit a serve that Bethel was unable to return. The Gusties managed to win ten of the first 11 points in the game. With the score 15-3, Andrea Kron (Jr., Cold Spring, Minn.) hit a hard kill that the Royals could not return. Emily Klein (So., Red Wing, Minn.) gave Gustavus a 15-point lead when she aced Bethel on a serve that hit the baseline. The Royals then won five straight points, but the Gusties stayed the course for a 30-14 win.
Bethel took a 5-3 lead in the second game when Liz Glesne hit a kill. The Royals were able to hang on to the lead until Jennifer Thelemann (Jr., Le Sueur, Minn.) hit a hard kill to tie the game at 11-11. Gustavus then went up 15-13 by winning three of four points. However, Bethel’s Amy Anderson tipped the ball over the Gusties frontline to tie the game at 16-16. The Gusties pulled away and advanced their lead 28-25 when Danielle Gimmestad (Fy., Marshall, Minn.) hit a kill. With Gustavus leading 29-27 Thelemann hit a hard kill to win the game for the Gusties.
In the third game, Gustavus went up 8-5 when Thelemann hit a well-placed kill. However, the Gusties made some costly mistakes and Bethel tied the game at 10-10. Bethel’s Alissa Martin hit a kill to give her team a 14-12 lead. The Royals hung onto the lead, and took a three-point lead when Anderson pounded a kill out of the reach of Klein for a 24-21 lead. The Royals held on to win the game 30-27.
Bethel took an early 4-1 lead in the fourth game but Gustavus quickly tied the game up at 6-6. The two teams battled through several lengthy points and neither was able to take a significant lead. With the Gusties leading 14-12, Becca Thompson (Sr., Mankato, Minn.) reached over the net and put away a weak Bethel shot. Gustavus kept its three-point lead for a considerable amount of time. Then the Royals hit a couple of shots out and the Gusties took a 25-19 lead. Thompson angled off a kill to put her team up 26-20. With Gustavus leading 29-24, Kron blocked a Bethel attack and won the match point for the Gusties.
Thelemann led Gustavus in kills with 21, while Kron notched 16 and Thompson had 14. Bridget Burtzel (So., Cold Spring, Minn.) had 58 set assists for the Gusties and Klein had 20 digs. Anderson led Bethel with 22 kills while Glesne contributed 19. Laura Naig had 52 set assists for the Royals.
Gustavus will host St. Olaf next Wednesday at 7:00pm.