The Gustavus volleyball team defeated Bethany Lutheran 3-0 (30-21, 30-17, 30-23) in a nonconference matchup on Gus Young Court in St. Peter on Friday night. The Gusties improve to 9-3 overall, while the Vikings fall to 2-8. Gustavus has won five of its last seven overall.
In the first game, the Gusties jumped out to an 8-4 lead, however Bethany Lutheran won the next three points to cut the lead to one. Gustavus improved its lead to 15-9 led by four points on the serve of Jessica Plemel (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.). The Vikings cut the lead to one point when they won eight of the next 11 points and trailed 18-17. The Gusties rattled off six points in a row and went ahead 24-17. Andrea Kron (Jr., Cold Spring, Minn.) hit the game-winning kill to give Gustavus a 30-21 victory.
The Gusties won 16 of 19 points to start game two, jumping out to a 6-0 lead on the serve of Rachelle Jakobs (Sr., Montevideo, Minn.). Later, Jennifer Thelemann (Jr., LeSueur, Minn.) hit one of her 13 kills and Gustavus went ahead 9-2. The Gusties went on to win four points in a row on Thelemann’s serve. Gustavus held the lead throughout most of the game, and won five of the last six points to close out game two 30-17.
Leading 8-7 in the third game the Gusties won five of the next seven points for a 13-9 lead. The Vikings then cut the lead to 13-12 and would eventually tie the game up at 16-16. The Gusties found themselves ahead 22-16 following a sideout and five straight points on Bridget Burtzel’s (So., Cold Spring, Minn.) serve. Bethany Lutheran cut the lead to 24-20, but Gustavus jumped up by seven when Becca Thompson (Sr., Mankato, Minn.) hit her ninth kill of the night. Thompson and Kron then blocked a Bethany shot to bring the score to 29-21. The Vikings took the next two points but a serving error closed out the game 30-23 and gave the Gusties the overall victory 3-0.
Kron led Gustavus with 14 kills, Thelemann had 13, and Thompson contributed nine. Emily Klein (So., Red Wing, Minn.) led all players with 11 digs, and Burtzel led all players with 29 set assists.
Emma Orth, Rachel Miller, and Leslie Bremer each had eight kills for Bethany Lutheran. Laura Parochka led the Vikings with 10 defensive digs.
The Gusties will travel to Northfield on Wednesday to play Carleton in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.