Nora Holtan registered 26 assists in her first collegiate match for Gustavus.
Platteville, Wis. – The Gustavus Adolphus volleyball team kicked off its 2015 season Friday by dropping its first two matches at the UW-Platteville Tournament. The Gusties lost 3-1 to Cornell College and then lost to UW-Platteville 3-1.
Gustavus 1, Cornell 3
The Gusties won the first set 25-23, but then dropped the next three 25-27, 25-27 and 21-25.
Senior middle hitter Alyssa Taylor (Sr. Trimont, Minn.) led the offensive attack with 11 kills on 21 attempts for a .476 attack percentage. In her college debut, setter Nora Holtan (Fy., Rochester, Minn.) registered 26 assists, while Marisa Morgan (So., Rockford, Ill.) posted the team’s remaining 10 helpers. Abby Leitch (So. Mankato, Minn.) paced the Gustie defense with 15 digs.
No play-by-play stats are available for this match.
Gustavus 1, UW-Platteville 3
In their second match of the night, the Gusties fell to host UW-Platteville in four sets by scores of 14-25, 23-35, 25-19 and 24-26.
Gustavus scored the first point of the opening set, but that would be its only lead. The Pioneers scored three unanswered points and held the lead the rest of the way. The Gusties were not able to string together more than two points in a row the entire set.
The second set was much more competitive as Gustavus jumped out to and early 3-2 advantage, but the Pioneers once again went on a three-point run and held the lead for the remainder of the set. The Gusties trialed by as much as six points (13-7) and got back to within one point twice at 23-22 and 24-23, but UW-Platteville closed out the set with a kill.
The Pioneers carried their momentum into the third set and led 7-2 early on. Gustavus then found a rhythm and went on a 16-6 run to take an 18-13 advantage. The Pioneers crawled back to cut the deficit to three points at 20-17, but the Black and Gold finished it off with a kill by Taylor Trautman (Jr., Hutchinson, Minn.) ensued by a Pioneer attack error.
Just as UW-Platteville did in the beginning of the third set, Gustavus carried its momentum into the fourth set and took an early 6-3 lead. The Pioneers rallied for four unanswered points to take a 7-6 advantage and it was a back-and-forth affair the rest of the way. The fourth set featured seven lead changes, but it was the Pioneers that closed out the game by scoring the final three points for a 26-24 victory.
Taylor paced the Gustie offense by going 13-for-25 on the attack with four errors. Morgan tallied a team-high 19 assists, while Leitch once again held her ground on the back line with 17 digs.
Gustavus starts its season 0-2 and continues play at the UW-Platteville Tournament at 10 a.m. Sunday against Ripon College. The fourth and final match of the tourney for Gustavus is at noon against Westminster College.