SAINT PETER, Minn. – The No. 22 nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus College volleyball team battled the College of St. Scholastica Saints at home Friday night in a conference contest. The Gusties dropped the opening set but went on to take the next three in a 3-1 victory over the Saints.
The first set was a back-and-forth battle that set the tone for the match. St. Scholastica led 17-15 midway through the set until a 4-0 run for Gustavus put the Gusties up 19-17. The Saints battled back to tie the match as the two teams battled neck-and-neck to a 22-21 lead for Gustavus. At that point, St. Scholastica won four in a row to take the set 25-22 and take a 1-0 lead over the Gusties.
Gustavus responded in the second set by going up 6-1 early in what would be a set dominated by the Gusties. The Saints strung together three points to make it 6-4, but Gustavus went on a 7-1 run to take a 13-5 lead. The Gusties kept up the attack and went on to take the set 25-13 to even the match up at 1-1.
Set three returned to the highly competitive play that was seen in the opening set. Gustavus took a 10-7 lead early but St. Scholastics went on a 4-0 run to go up 11-10. At 15-15, the Gusties won three in a row to take an 18-15 lead. Neither team would string together more than two points in a row the rest of the set. Gustavus reached a 24-21 lead for set point, but the Saints won back-to-back points to threaten to push the set further.
Leah Berg slammed the door on that possibility with a kill to secure the 25-23 set win for the Gusties as they took a 2-1 lead.
In the fourth set, the back-and-forth battle continued for the first half of the set. That changed at 14-14, as Gustavus caught fire with a 10-2 run to reach match point up 24-16. St. Scholastics took two more points, but
Greta Tompkins secured the set and match point with a kill as the Gusties won the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.
Berg led the Gusties' attack with 18 kills on .405 hitting.
Logan Brent followed with 15 kills on a .414 hitting percentage.
Sydney Timm and Tompkins each had 12 kills, hitting .333 and .579 respectively.
Sahara Morken orchestrated the offense with 51 assists for an average of 12.75 assists per set.
Maren Sundberg led the defensive effort with 20 digs.
Gustavus hit .353 as a team while holding the Saints to a .169 hitting percentage.
Up next for the Gusties is a trip to St. Paul for an away match against the Macalester College Scotts on Saturday, November 1 at 5:00 p.m.
