The Gustavus volleyball team was unable to match the offense of the University of St. Thomas in a 3-0 loss (25-15, 25-11, 29-27) on Friday night in St. Paul. The Tommies hit 51 kills compared to just 31 for the Gusties en route to the victory. Kyley Crotty led St. Thomas with 15 kills, while no Gustavus player reached double-digit kills. Gustavus fell to 15-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference, while St. Thomas improved its overall record to 16-1 and its MIAC record to 4-0.
The Gusties scored the first point of the match when Olivia Warren (Fy., Goodhue, Minn.) recorded a kill for a 1-0 lead. It would be the only lead Gustavus would have during the set as St. Thomas opened up an 8-4 lead after three Kyley Crotty kills. The Gusties battled back to within 11-7 as Meghan Gehring (Jr., Eau Claire, Wis.) and Warren posted kills, but were unable to close the gap further as the Tommies took the set 25-15.
The Tommies carried their momentum into the second set as St. Thomas jumped out to a 10-0 lead en route to a 25-11 decision for the two set lead. In the third set, Gustavus capitalized on kills from Angela Ahrendt (Fy., Shoreview, Minn.) and Warren to take a 7-3 lead. The Tommies immdiately countered with a 9-2 scoring run to regain the lead 12-9. Both squads traded scoring runs before St. Thomas had match point at 24-19. The Gusties fought off five points to even the match at 24-24 after a series of Tommie hitting miscues. Gustavus continued to fight off match points until St. Thomas closed out the match at 29-27 with kills from Waibel and Crotty.
Olivia Warren and Angela Ahrendt paced Gustavus with eight kills each, while Bridget Burtzel dished out 26 assists. Emily Klein led the Gusties with 14 digs. In addition to Crotty, St. Thomas had two other players register double-digit kills including Carlie Waibel and Alesha Nelson at 10 apiece. Emily Foster finished with 41 assists, while Katie Kremer tallied 31 digs.
Gustavus will face Carleton College on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in St. Peter.