Arden Hills, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus volleyball team suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of the Bethel University on Friday night. The Royals cruised to their first MIAC victory of the season by scores of 26-24, 25-23, and 25-22. Gustavus falls to 7-10 overall and 1-4 in the MIAC with the loss, while Bethel improves to 10-6 overall and 1-3 in the MIAC with the win.
With a 9-8 lead in the first set, Gustavus used an 8-2 run to go up 17-10 and gain control of the set. Bethel would not go down quietly however, making a comeback to tie the score at 23-23. The two squads would trade points before Royal hitter Amy Baumetz recorded back-to-back kills to give set Bethel the set 26-24.
The Royals built on their first set momentum to grab a 10-4 lead early in the second set. The Gusties slowly chipped away at the lead to cut Bethel’s advantage to one point at 20-19. Bethel responded with three straight points to go up 24-21 before Gustavus brought the score to 24-23 after a Becca Woodstra (Fy., Minnetonka, Minn.) ace and a Kelle Nett (Fy., Spring Valley, Ill.) kill. Bethel snapped Gustavus’ momentum with a timeout and scored the ensuing point to take the set 25-23.
The two squads went back-and-forth in what was a tightly contested third set. Gustavus trailed by a small margin throughout the early and middle stages of the set before scoring three straight points to tie the set at 18-18. After Gustavus took a 21-20 lead on a Nett kill, Bethel went on a 5-1 scoring run to close the match at 25-22.
Gustavus’ offense was led by Becca Woodstra and Kelle Nett. Woodstra recorded a double-double with 15 kills (.179) and 12 digs, while Nett tallied 10 kills. The Bethel offense had three players finish with ten kills each including Kali Johnson, Amy Baumetz, and Nicole Ackatz.
Bethel finished the match with a team attack percentage of .224 compared to Gustavus who finished at .144.
Paige Breneman (So., Sherburn, Minn.) was superb on defense with a match-high 29 digs, her best performance of the season. Lisa Beacher (Sr., Roseville, Minn.) and Shelby Nosan (So., Baudette, Minn.) also had double-digit digs with 14 and 13, respectively. Kendra Weege (So., Watertown, Minn.) went over 40 assists for the third time in the last four matches, finishing with 41 on the night.
The Gustavus volleyball team will cap the weekend with a match tomorrow night against Augsburg College at 5:00 p.m.