The Gustavus volleyball team has been going through a bit of a rough stretch lately and the struggle continued on Wednesday night with a 3-1 loss at Carleton. Coach Rachelle Dosch’s squad won the first set 25-21, but then lost the next three by the scores of 16-25, 17-25, and 24-26. It is the fifth loss in the last six matches for the Gusties and drops their overall mark to 4-6 and their MIAC record to 1-1.
Coach Dosch has been perplexed by the team’s inconsistent play lately and after a strong first set, the Gusties lost their focus in the second and third sets. Dosch stated, “Carleton came out strong in the second set, but we just made too many unforced errors. We have not been able to maintain our intensity for an entire match the past couple of weeks.” She added, “That said, Dana (Boerboom) really stepped up for us tonight and performed very well on the outside. She went right at Carleton at the net.”
Statistically, Gustavus was led by Boerboom with 17 kills and Malea Noennig added 42 set assists. The Gusties had a rough night on the attack with 47 kills on 153 attempts and 36 errors for a disappointing .072 attack percentage.
The Gusties return to conference play with a match at home against St. Olaf on Friday night followed by a non-conference contest at home against Northwestern College on Saturday at 5:00 pm. It is Homecoming Weekend at Gustavus.