ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus volleyball team continues Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play at 7 p.m. tonight as it hosts St. Olaf College. The Gusties enter with a 9-2 overall record and 1-0 mark in the MIAC, while the Oles are 8-8 overall and 0-1 in the MIAC.
Live online coverage of tonight’s match begins at 7 p.m.
The Gusties hosted a quadrangular last Saturday and came out with a pair of victories against the University of Wisconsin-Stout and Luther College. Head Coach Rachelle Sherden’s squad beat the Blue Devils 3-2 in comeback fashion and shut out the Norse 3-0. Gustavus also increased its win streak to nine, which is the longest since an 11-game streak in 2008.
Against UW-Stout, Lauren Hanson paced the Gustie offense, going 16-for-36 on the attack with four errors for a .333 percentage. Alyssa Taylor and Anne Ladwig also tallied double digit kills with 11 apiece. Taylor added a match-high seven blocks. Nora Holtan dished out 39 assists, while Brittany Luethmers controlled the back line with a match-high 28 digs.
In the win over Luther, Gustavus posted an impressive .374 attack percentage, while holding the Norse to a .102 mark. The attack was led by Kelle Nett with eight kills on 12 attempts and no errors for a .667 hitting percentage. Holtan posted 20 assists and Luethmers tallied 16 digs to lead the Gusties in those respective categories.
After 11 matches this season, Taylor leads the MIAC with 53 total blocks. Her .341 attack percentage is a team-best and ranks sixth in the conference.
St. Olaf participated in the Wartburg Invitational last weekend in Waverly, Iowa and lost all four of its matches. On day one, the Oles lost 2-3 to Coe College and 0-3 to host Wartburg. St. Olaf was led by Kathryn Johnson’s 14 kills in the five-set loss to Coe. Sophie Schwartz added five blocks and Kersten Bork had 21 set assists. In the straight-set loss to Wartburg, Megan Grimes posted eight kills and Abby Slack had 25 digs.
On the second day, St. Olaf lost both of its matches – 0-3 to UW-Platteville and 2-3 to Buena Vista. Johnson had 10 kills while Bork had 15 assists and 10 digs in the loss against UW-Platteville. Against BVU, Johnson once again led the Oles with 11 kills. Slack had 20 digs, while Angela Fusselman and Carpenter had 10 each.
After 16 matches this season, Slack leads the MIAC with 319 total digs. Her 5.7 digs per set average is third in the league. Johnson is the Oles’ best attacker with a .282 attack percentage and a total of 150 kills, averaging 2.78 per set.