St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus volleyball team saw its three-match winning-streak come to a halt with a 3-1 loss to the University of St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon at Gus Young Court. St. Thomas won the opening set 25-16, and Gustavus answered with a 26-24 win in the second to tie that match at 1-1. The Tommies cruised to a 25-11 win in the third and then carried the momentum to a 25-17 win in the fourth. Gustavus drops to 7-9 overall and 2-1 in the MIAC, while St. Thomas improves to 13-4 overall and 3-0 in the MIAC.
After being done in by a 10-3 scoring run during the heart of the opening set, the Gusties got back into the match with a much-improved second set and a hard fought win. With the score tied and 10-10 and then later 15-15, Gustavus used a five point swing to go up 20-15. St. Thomas responded with a 5-1 scoring-run to cut the lead to 21-20, but Gustavus kept the Tommies at least a point behind until Sara Atkinson recorded a kill to tie the set at 24-24. After Atkinson’s equalizer, the Gusties answered with back-to-back kills by Alyssa Taylor (Jr., Trimont, Minn.) and Becca Woodstra (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) to put the set in the books.
Alyssa Taylor led the team with 13 kills and a .375 attack percentage. Woodstra finished next in line with nine kills and a .125 attack rate.
Gustavus’s offense never got back its rhythm after the second set, posting team attack percentages of -.111 in the third and .1114 in the fourth. Although the two clubs traded points back-and-forth through much of the fourth set, the Tommies took control with nine straight points to go up 24-15 and eventually take the frame 25-17.
Abby Leitch (Fy., Mankato, Minn.) led the way defensively, finishing with a match-high 22 digs and going over the 20-dig mark for the first time in three matches. Paige Breneman (Sr., Sherburn, Minn.) posted 10 digs, while St. Thomas’s Whitney Abrahamson tallied 20.
St. Thomas’s top two hitters included Taylor Lewis and Jill Greenfield. Lewis recorded a match-high 17 kills (.317), while Greenfield finished with a double-double in kills (12, .312) and digs (12).
Marisa Morgan (Fy., Rockford, Ill.) ran the offense and distributed 32 assists to go along with two aces. St. Thomas used both Maddie Reece and Kayla Walton to set. Reece totaled 21 assists, and Walton dished out 18.
As a team, Gustavus recorded 45 kills and a .189 attack percentage. The Tommies had 51 kills with a .276 attack percentage.
The Gusties will be back in action on Friday, Oct. 3 when they travel to St. Paul to face Hamline University at 7:00 p.m.