St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus volleyball team suffered a pair of losses to close out the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic held over the weekend in the Gostomski Fieldhouse on the campus of Saint Mary’s University. The Gusties dropped their first match of the day 3-0 to Dominican University before falling 3-0 to Lakeland University to cap the tournament. Gustavus will head into the opening week of the 2012-13 academic year with a record of 0-4.
Dominican defeated the Gusties in their morning match by scores of 25-17, 25-16, and 25-21. Gustavus struggled to find offensive consistency throughout the match, posting attack percentages of .073, .059, and .054 in the first, second, and third sets, respectively. Dominican recorded a team attack percentage of .257 compared to the Black and Gold’s .062.
Leading the Gustavus offense was Kelle Nett (So., Spring Valley, Ill.) who hit the floor with eight kills and registered an efficient .400 attack percentage. Alyssa Taylor (Jr., Trimont, Minn.) also had eight kills (.136), while Janessa Jahnke (Fy., Blue Earth, Minn.) finished with seven (0.87).
Paige Breneman (Jr., Sherburn, Minn.) led the team with 16 digs, and Haley Zweber (Fy., Rosemount, Minn.) finished behind her with 10 of her own. Taylor Meurer (Jr., Nicollet, Minn.) did the setting in the match and finished with 23 assists.
Despite a much-improved showing in their final match of the tournament, the Gusties fell in three tightly-contested sets to Lakeland. The Muskies bested Gustavus by scores of 25-23, 27-25, and 25-21 to earn the sweep.
Alyssa Taylor led the offensive with 10 kills (.030), reaching double-figures for the second time this weekend. Janessa Jahnke recorded eight kills (.263), while both Kelle Nett and Becca Woodstra (So., Minnetonka, Minn.) both had six.
Paige Breneman paced the defensive effort with 17 digs, and Woodstra reached double-digits with 10. Taylor Meurer upped her assist mark from early in the day with a total of 30 in the match.
As a team, Gustavus tallied 34 kills and finished with an attack percentage of .100. Lakeland had 33 kills with an attack percentage of .093.
The Gustavus volleyball team will have a week of practice before heading to Minneapolis for the Augsburg Tournament next weekend. The Gusties will kick off the tournament on Friday with matches against Northwestern (2:00 p.m.) and Wartburg (6:00 p.m.).