SAINT PETER, Minn. – The No. 11 Gustavus volleyball team will head to Dubuque, Iowa, this weekend to take part in the Loras Invite. The Gusties will play four games, taking on Wartburg, Loras, No. 25 WashU, and St. Norbert. The Black and Gold will play at 5 and 7 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday.
Tournament Webpage – Live Links
Scouting the Knights: Wartburg enters the weekend 2-1 on the season with wins over Wisconsin Lutheran and Bluffton last weekend at Hope College. In 11 sets this season Kylie Bildstein has been the teams catalyst, notching 34 kills on an attack percentage of .615. Zaiah Quirk and Jayme Willemssen are the teams other two top attackers with 27 and 23 kills, respectively.
Scouting the Duhawks: After going 4-0 at the Forester Invite last weekend, Loras lost their first contest of the season on Tuesday falling to UW-Platteville 3-0. The attack for the Duhawks has been spread out this season with four players with at least 33 kills, with Kayla Kinney leading the team with 50. Jessalyn Roling has been the team’s quarterback, notching 162 set assists through the five games.
Scouting the Bears: After starting No. 14 in the preseason rankings, WashU went 2-2 in their opening weekend and fell to No. 25 before taking down No. 24 Illinois Wesleyan 3-1 on Wednesday. After losing Julianne Malek, the nationwide leader in attack percentage last season, to graduation, the Bears have used an all-around attack to start this year. Leila King and Caitlin Lorenz have notched 57 and 43 attacks respectively, both with attack percentages over .400.
Scouting the Green Knights: After falling to the University of Northwestern (Minn.) to start the season, St. Norbert finished their weekend winning three straight to start 3-1 on the year. Grace Baumann and Lexie Van Hiel have been the two top attackers for the Green Knights this year with 52 and 43 kills, respectively. Jessica Guerts has been dialed in from the service line with 16 aces.
Scouting the Gusties: Gustavus has started the year 4-0 thanks to solid all-around play last weekend. Through four games the Gusties have been led by Kate Holtan (Jr., Rochester, Minn.) who has posted 45 kills, to go along with 42 digs. First-years Sarah Elliott (Fy., Lombard, Ill.) and Rhyan Herrmann (Fy., Brownton, Minn.) played key roles last weekend notching 37 and 31 kills, respectively. Kaylyn Johnston (Fy., Urbana, Ill.) leads the team with 88 assists while Hailey Embacher (Jr., Mankato, Minn.) has a team-high 75 digs.