Gustavus celebrates a point in Wednesday night's 3-2 victory over St. Olaf.
St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus volleyball team buckled down when it had to in Wednesday’s five set victory over St. Olaf College. After letting the fourth set slip away, the Gusties took back control of the gym’s momentum and cruised to a 15-8 victory in the decisive fifth. With the win, Gustavus snaps a two-match slide and is now 8-10 overall and 3-2 in the MIAC. St. Olaf drops its fifth straight and is 7-11 overall and 1-4 in the MIAC.
Gustavus took the opening set by the score of 25-18 after finishing the frame with a 9-3 scoring-run.
After Gustavus took the opening set by the score of 25-18 after finishing the frame with a 9-3 scoring-run, the two teams went back-and-forth throughout the second set. Gustavus trailed 8-5 yet then turned the tide in its favor with a 7-2 run to go up 12-10. Trailing 13-10, St. Olaf took the momentum back with a 5-1 run to go up 15-13. Although the Gusties looked to be in control after a 7-2 rally saw them with a 20-17 edge, St. Olaf clawed its way back in with three straight points to tie the set at 20-20. After Kelle Nett (Jr., Spring Valley, Ill.) recorded a kill to give Gustavus a 23-21 edge, the Oles rattled off four straight points to win the set 25-23 and tie the match at 1-1.
Gustavus began to take over up 8-7 after trading points early in the set. A kill by Becca Woodstra (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) put the Gusties up 9-7 and sparked what was a 12-2 tear the pushed the Black and Gold’s lead to 20-9. St. Olaf came no closer than eight points for the remainder of the set, as Gustavus cruised to a 25-17 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Gustavus benefited from a big crown and lots of energy on what was Dig Pink night at Gus Young Court.
Gustavus looked to be well on its way to a four-set victory by taking control early and grabbing a 12-4 lead. The Gusties kept the pressure on, scoring four of five points during one stretch to grab a 16-8 advantage. From there, St. Olaf began to chip away. Although the Oles used a 6-1 run to cut the lead to 17-13, Gustavus answered with two of the next three points to remain in the lead up 19-14. St. Olaf then came storming back with five unanswered points to tie the set at 19-19. From that point on, the match was tied a total of five times. On the fifth time with the score knotted at 25-25, St. Olaf used a kill by Sophie Schwartz and an ace by Taylor Gorder to win the set 27-25 and tie match at 2-2.
Refusing to succumb to a second consecutive, five-set heartbreaker, Gustavus came out clicking in the fifth. The Gusties jumped out to an 8-4 advantage and didn’t look back from there. A 5-2 scoring-run and three straight points up 12-8 secured the set 15-8 and the match along with it.
Gustavus recorded 68 kills and hit at a rate of .278 in the match. St. Olaf finished with 46 kills and an attack rate of .141.
Leading Gustavus’s offense was Alyssa Taylor (Jr., Trimont, Minn.) and Janessa Jahnke (So., Blue Earth, Minn.). Taylor paced all hitters with 20 kills to go along with a .415 attack percentage. It is the third time this season that Taylor has posted 20 or more kills and also the third time she’s hit at a rate above .400. After playing in a total of three sets over Gustavus’s previous two matches, Jahnke broke out with a season-best 17 kills and a .277 attack rate. Kelle Nett (Jr., Spring Valley, Ill.) also reached double figures with 11 kills (.588).
Running the Gustie offense from start to finish was Marisa Morgan (Fy., Rockford, Ill.) who turned in the best outing of her young career. Morgan distributed a season-best 57 assists, which tops her previous season-high of 49 set on Sept. 13 agianst Simpson.
The back row of the Three Crowns put together a complete and balanced defensive effort. Led by Abby Leitch (Fy., Mankato, Minn.) who finished with 27 digs, four Gusties ended up with digs above the 20 mark. Paige Breneman (Sr., Sherburn, Minn.) finished next in line with 17 to go along with a match-high three aces, Hayley Zweber (So., Rosemount, Minn.) tallied 15, and Kendra Weege (Sr., Watertown, Minn.) added 11.
The Gustavus volleyball team will be in action next on Friday, Oct. 10 when it travels to St. Paul for an MIAC match against Macalester at 7:00 p.m.