ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus volleyball team wraps up the regular season Saturday at Saint Mary’s University. The Gusties and Cardinals, who have already secured the Nos. 2 and 4 seeds in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs, respectively, begin tomorrow’s match at 3 p.m. The Gusties enter the contest with a 21-6 overall record and 9-1 mark in the MIAC, while the Cardinals are 23-4 overall and 7-3 in the league.
Live online coverage of tomorrow’s match begins at 3 p.m.
GUSTAVUS VOLLEYBALL PAGE | SAINT MARY’S VOLLEYBALL PAGE
Gustavus is coming off a shutout victory at Hamline on Wednesday by set scores of 25-20, 25-17, 25-23. Sophomore setter Nora Holtan (Rochester, Minn.) reached a monumental milestone in her young career by becoming just the sixth Gustavus volleyball player to surpass the 2,000-assist mark in program history. Holtan tallied 30 assists against the Pipers and currently sits at 2,005 career assists. Lauren Hanson (So., Redwood Falls, Minn.) led the offense with 12 kills, while Taylor Trautman (Sr., Hutchinson, Minn.) was a big contributor with eight kills. Brittany Luethmers (So., Prior Lake, Minn.) and Anne Ladwig (Jr., Albert Lea, Minn.) led the back line with 15 and 14 digs, respectively.
After 27 matches this season, Gustavus and Saint Mary’s are the top two attacking teams in the MIAC. The Cardinals lead the league with 13.52 kills per set, while the Gusties rank second with 13.41 kills per set. Saint Mary’s edges Gustavus in hitting percentage .206-.198, which rank second and fifth in the conference.
Brandi Blattner of Saint Mary’s is the league’s top attacker with 409 kills, averaging 4.65 kills per set, both numbers that are best in the MIAC. Gustavus’s Hanson is close behind, ranking second in the league with 345 kills and fourth in kills per set at 3.32. Morgan Thomas has the fourth best digs per set average in the MIAC at 5.42 for Saint Mary’s, while Luethmers is Gustavus’s top defender with 520 total digs (3rd/MIAC). The Cardinals also do a good job on the serve with two of the top three servers in the league in Lillian Braun and Thomas, who average 0.53 and 0.43 aces per set, respectively.