The Gustavus volleyball team went 1-1 in the final day of the Augsburg Invite held on the campus of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, finishing in fifth place after falling to #25 St. Scholastica 3-0 in the morning and defeating Augsburg 3-0 in the fifth place match in the afternoon. The Gusties finish with a 2-2 record over the weekend, as senior setter Malea Noennig earned a spot on the 10-player All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the tournament.
Gustavus, who is now 5-3 on the season, will open MIAC play on Wednesday, Sept. 14 against St. Thomas at 7:00 p.m. in St. Paul.
The Gusties suffered their first sweep of the season at the hands of St. Scholastica in the morning, falling by scores of 25-13, 25-19, and 25-19. The Saints made just nine errors compared to Gustavus’ 18 in the match. Paige Hardy led all attackers with match-high 13 kills, while Sarah Kurtovich led both squads with 31 assists.
Olivia Warren finished with an attack percentage of .455, finding the floor with a team-high nine kills. Emily Phillips joined Warren with nine kills of her own, while Paige Breneman continued her solid back-row play with a match-high 15 digs.
Gustavus was able to shake off the St. Scholastica loss and bounce back with a 3-0 sweep of its own in the fifth place match against Augsburg. The Gusties took the match by scores of 25-14, 25-21, and 25-18. Angela Ahrendt, having seen her double-figure kill streak come to an end at six matches the match earlier, got back on track against the Auggies. Ahrendt recorded 14 kills with just two errors for an attack percentage of .400, her best performance of the Augsburg Invite.
Noennig tallied 22 assists and seven digs and Beneman led the way in digs with ten. Gustavus attackers Emily Phillips and Jessica Grill were also very efficient on offense. Phillips totaled nine kills and two errors, while Grill had eight kills and one error. Both Phillips and Grill registered an attack percentage of .368. Gustavus finished the match with a season-high attack percentage of .315.
All-Tournament Team selection Malea Noennig finished with a total of 21 digs and 117 set assists for an average of 29.25 assists per match and 8.35 assists per set in the tournament. Noennig has dished out 255 assists and is averaging 9.11 assists per set this season.