SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – No. 17 Gustavus volleyball opened its season Friday at the UC-Santa Cruz Slug Fest with a pair of victories. The Gusties started the day with a 3-1 win over Cal Lutheran and then beat George Fox in straight sets.
Gustavus 3, Cal Lutheran 1
The first set went back and forth with Cal Lutheran maintaining a close lead early on until the Gusties went on a 7-2 run for a 16-14 lead. The Regals answered with five straight points and held on for a 25-20 win.
Cal Lutheran rolled its momentum into the second set with a 9-4 lead before the Gusties rattled off six straight points for a 10-9 lead. The Regals had an answer with an 11-4 run but once again the Gusties punched back with a 10-4 spree to tie the game 24-24. After trading points to get to 25-25, the Regals had an attack error and
Olivia Stockham (Big Lake, Minn.) put the game away 27-25 with a kill.
The Regals once again jumped out to an early lead, 5-1, in the third set before the Gusties responded with a 10-3 run for an 11-8 advantage. Cal Lu bounced back and tied the game at 11, 17, 20, 21, and 22 before gaining a 23-22 lead, but three straight Gustie point closed out the set 25-23 on three kills.
Gustavus ran out to an early 8-1 lead in the fourth and never trailed the rest of the way. The Regals were able to close the gap to one at 16-15 and 18-17, but the Gusties finished the game with the last four points.
Three Gusties reached double figure kills, led by
Marlee Turn (Kennedy, Minn.) with 20 and a .326 attack percentage. Turn added 12 digs.
Madi Kes (Jordan, Minn.) added 14 with a .462 attack rate and
Lauren Klaith (Rockford, Minn.) posted 11 kills.
Kasie Tweet (Adrian, Minn.) directed the offense with 52 assists along with 13 digs.
Maren Sundberg (Eagan, Minn.) led the defensive effort with 21 digs.
Gustavus 3, George Fox 0
After trading points early in the first, the Gusties turned a 12-11 lead into 17-11 and never looked back.
The Bruins scored the first point of the second set but the lead was short lived as Gustavus tallied 10 straight points and cruised to a 25-14 win.
The third set proved to be the most competitive with five ties and neither team leading by more than four. The Gusties held the advantage for the majority of the set until the Regals went on an 8-1 run to hold set point at 24-20. Gustavus found a way out of the hole, though, scoring six straight points to secure the sweep.
Turn once again led the offense with 13 kills. Kes added 10 kills and a .350 attack percentage. Sundberg was the defensive leader with 18 digs, while Tweet posted 33 assists and 10 digs.
Gustavus closes out play at the Slug Fest on Saturday with a 6 p.m. (CST) match against Willamette and a 9 p.m. match against host UC-Santa Cruz.
