St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus volleyball team is set to kick off its MIAC season with a home match against Carleton College on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. on Gus Young Court. The Gusties enter the contest with an overall record of 5-7, while Carleton comes in with an overall mark of 9-3.
Live video and live stats for Wednesday’s match will be provided by the Gustavus Sports Information Department.
Gustavus
Roster | Statistics | Schedule/Results
Carleton
Roster | Statistics | Schedule/Results
About Last Weekend – The Gusties are most recently coming off a 3-1 showing at the 2013 Gustavus Volleyball Invitational held last weekend in the Lund Center Forum. Gustavus defeated UW-River Falls 3-1 and Central College 3-1 on Friday, then topped Bethany Lutheran College 3-0 before concluding the weekend with a 3-1 loss to Simpson College on Friday.
The Series – Wednesday’s match will be the 71st meeting between Gustavus and Carleton on the volleyball court. The Gusties hold the advantage in the all-time series with a record of 53-16-1. The Knights came away with a five-set victory over Gustavus in the last meeting between the two teams on Sept. 26, 2012 in St. Peter. After the Gusties tied the match at 2-2 with a win in the fourth, Carleton took the match via a 15-12 victory in the fifth.
Triple-Headed Attack – Through the opening 12 matches of the year, Gustavus has benefited from a balanced offensive attack centered around Alyssa Taylor (Jr., Trimont, Minn.), Janessa Jahnke (Fy., Blue Earth, Minn.), and Kelle Nett (So., Spring Valley, Ill.). The trio of hitters have totaled a combined 347 kills, which constitutes 69-percent of the squad’s total kills this season. Taylor leads the pack with 126 kills (2.86 kps) and an attack percentage of .220. Jahnke has hit the floor with 115 kills (2.61 kps) and carries a .219 attack percentage, and Nett has 106 kills (2.36) with a .237 attack percentage.
Last weekend on their home court, Jahnke (44, 3.38 kps), Taylor (40, 2.86 kps), and Nett (37, 2.64 kps) provided 121 kills between them. Standout hitting performances of the weekend included Jahnke and Taylor’s match against Central and Nett’s outing against Bethany. Against Central, Janessa turned in 16 kills and made just one attack error for a hitting percentage of .556. Taylor was right beside her with 11 kills and just one error for an identical attack percentage. Against Bethany on Saturday, Kelle upped the ante with 12 kills and an efficiency rate of .750 after making zero attack errors. Her showing at the net was the best by a Gustie since Meghan Gehring `10 hit the floor with 13 kills for an attack percentage of .765 following an error free match on Sept. 5, 2009 against St. Scholastica.
Breneman Earns All-Tournament Team Accolades – Gustavus junior libero Paige Breneman (Sherburn, Minn.) was named to the 2013 Gustavus Invitational All-Tournament Team following Saturday’s matches. Playing in all 13 sets over the weekend, Breneman finished with a total of 55 digs for an average of 4.23 digs per set. So far this season, the junior has registered 196 digs (6th/MIAC) for an average of 4.45 digs per set (7th/MIAC).
Meurer Sets High Mark – Junior setter Taylor Meurer (Jr., Nicollet, Minn.) had one of the most productive tournaments of the 2013 season at the Gustie Invitational last weekend. Meurer led all setters in the field with 140 assists over 14 sets, averaging 10 assists per set. The junior is currently ranked second in the MIAC in total sets with 406. She is averaging 9.02 assists per set, ranking her fifth amongst the league.