The Gustavus volleyball team fell short in a defensive marathon that lasted over two hours with Hamline 3-2 Friday night in St. Paul. Both teams struggled to end rallies as defenses on both sides of the court refused to let the ball touch the ground. Emily Klein (Red Wing, Minn.) led all back-row players with 40 digs in a match where the Golden Gusties compiled 122 digs and the Pipers had 137. Jen Thelemann notched a team-high 19 kills. Gustavus drops to 15-7 overall and 3-4 in the MIAC, while Hamline moves to 14-9 and 3-4 in the MIAC.
Gustavus was ahead 2-1 before falling to the Pipers in a tightly contested match with potential MIAC playoff implications by the scores of 33-31, 25-30, 30-28, 20-30, and 12-15. Hitting proved to be the deciding factor as the Gusties hit .104 compared to .173 hit by the Pipers. Gustavus was not without its opportunities as the offense had 279 hitting attempts. Three players finished with double-digit kills, including Thelemann (Le Sueur, Minn.) with 19, Andrea Kron (Cold Spring, Minn.) with 16, and Meghan Gehring (Eau Claire, Wis.). Bridget Burtzel (Cold Spring, Minn.) had her highest assist output of the season with 60 assists to go along with 22 digs. Hamline’s Tasha Simmons paced all hitters with 25 kills.
Gustavus will have the week off before taking on Concordia in Moorhead, Minn. Friday, October 19 at 7:00 pm.