ST. PETER, Minn. – The Carleton College volleyball team dropped the first set but rallied for a 3-1 triumph at Gustavus Adolphus. Kelly Lovett (Jr./Portland, Ore./Lincoln) led all players with 17 kills, while Kyla Walter (Jr./Aspen, Colo.) came off the bench to tally 11 kills. The Knights (8-3, 1-1 MIAC) have won four straight and six of their last seven.
“This was one of the most exciting matches I’ve ever gotten to watch,” said Carleton head coach Heidi Jaynes. “The girls played extremely smart and did a great job of making adjustments.
“I’m excited to see us play so well against a good team. And it’s great to get that first conference win.”
This was Carleton’s first victory over Gustavus (8-5, 1-1 MIAC) since 2007. The Gusties had swept the previous three meetings between these squads, including their Sept. 11 meeting at the Gustavus Classic.
Lovett’s night included 14 digs, three service aces and two blocks. Middle hitter Annie Eckhoff (Sr./Northfield, Minn.) had 12 kills with four blocks, while Jessa Youso (Fy./Virginia, Minn.) notched a career-best nine kills.
Beth Jarrett (Jr./Mounds View, Minn./Irondale) totaled 43 assists, one off her career-best established earlier this season. She also had 11 digs as the Knights brought up 77 attacks in the match.
Libero Laura Barsness (Sr./Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) led the Knights in that statistic, finishing with 27 digs, one off her season high. Erin Anderson (So./Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) added 12 digs to the effort.
While the Knights finished with only seven points off blocks, their defense up front was spectacular, routinely forcing Gutavus to make multiple attempts to get the ball over the net.
Gustavus took advantage of numerous attack errors by Carleton to pull out the first set 25-22, but in the back-and-forth second set—which featured 13 ties, the Knights’ blocking turned the match around.
Trailing 25-24 and in danger of going down two sets-to-none, Sarah Halls (Sr./Edina, Minn.) and Youso came up with a huge block of Olivia Warren, the Gusties’ top attacker. The Knights would go on to even the match with a 30-28 victory.
The Gusties jumped out to a lead once again in the third set, but Carleton went on a 15-5 burst to take control and put the visitors in command. The Knights then took advantage of some miscommunication on the Gustavus side of the net, closing out the fourth set and the match on an 18-9 run.
Warren finished with 10 kills on 41 attempts for Gustavus. Nicki Ainsworth had 14 kills and 16 digs, while Janey Hellend contributed 10 kills.
Carleton will travel to Bethel University for a primetime showdown with the Royals at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, September 25.