The Gustavus volleyball team fell short of upsetting #24-ranked Carleton losing 3-2 in Northfield Wednesday night. The Gusties came back from being down two games to one, but were unable to complete the comeback losing the fifth set. Jen Thelemann (Le Sueur, Minn.) paced the Gusties offensively with 17 kills. Thelemann also reached the 1,000-kill plateau at the end of the fourth game to become the 12th player in Gustavus history to accomplish this feat. Emily Klein (Red Wing, Minn.) compiled 29 digs in the losing effort, while Bridget Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn.) dished out 41 assists. Gustavus drops to 11-5 overall and 2-3 in the MIAC, as Carleton improves 13-1 overall and 5-1 in the MIAC.
Momentum swung back and forth as the squads alternated games won with the scores of 25-30, 30-24, 22-30, 30-23, and 6-15. Two Gusties had double-digit kills in the match including Thelemann with 17 and Meghan Gehring (Eau Claire, Wis.) with 11 kills. Carleton’s Megan La Chapelle had a match-high 18 kills for the Knights, as three other players finished with double-digit kills.
Neither team hit well during the match as the Gusties managed a .106 hitting percentage and the Knights complied a .155 hitting percentage. Whatever both squads lacked in hitting, they made up for in blocking as Gustavus had 16.5 team blocks and Carleton had 12.5 team blocks.
Gustavus has now lost three MIAC matches in a row for the first time since 2005. The Gusties will look to snap the losing streak Friday and Saturday at the IIAC-MIAC Border Battle in Indianola, Iowa when the team faces the top four IIAC teams from last year’s conference standings.