STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The No. 20 nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus College volleyball team battled the Washington University in St. Louis Bears on Friday night at the Pointer Invitational. The Gusties earned a 3-2 upset win over WashU in a five-set thriller to improve to 13-3 on the year. In addition to the win, senior libero Maren Sundberg surpassed 2,000 career digs, becoming just the third player in Gustavus program history to reach that milestone.
 
The match was a back-and-forth battle from the very first set. The Gusties worked their way to a 16-11 lead in the opening frame, but the Bears battled back to retake the lead up 22-21. Gustavus won the next two points to go up 23-22, but WashU responded with back-to-back points of their own to reach set point up 24-23. The Gusties fended off that set point to tie the match again, but the Bears went on to take the next two to win the set 26-24 and go up 1-0 in the match.
 
In the second set, Gustavus responded by taking an 18-9 lead while preventing WashU from winning consecutive points. The Bears finally strung two points together to make it 18-11, but the Gusties maintained the lead as the match reached 22-15. At that point, WashU won four in a row to cut the Gustavus lead down to just three at 22-19, but the Gusties responded by taking the next three points to secure the set 25-19 and tie the match at 1-1.
 
The Bears used a five-point run to take a 12-7 lead early in the third set. Gustavus battled back to cut WashU's lead down to one at 15-14. Still trailing down 19-17, the Gusties then took the next four points to go up 21-19. The Bears tied the set at 21-21 and again at 22-22, but a three-point run by Gustavus secured them the 25-22 set win and put the Gusties up 2-1 in the match.
 
Gustavus took an early 11-7 lead in the fourth set, but WashU then went on an 11-2 run to go up 19-13. The Bear's lead helped them reach set point up 24-19. The Gusties won three in a row to pull to within two, but WashU secured the set 25-22 to tie the match up at 2-2.
 
In the tiebreaker fifth set, Gustavus leaped out to an early 8-3 lead, but then the Bears won four in a row to cut the Gustie's lead down to just one up 8-7. Gustavus fought to a 13-10 lead but then two WashU kills brought them back within one. The Gusties reached match point up 14-12, though the Bears won the next point to stay alive. On the following point, however, Gustavus secured the win with an emphatic kill by Sydney Timm to take the set 15-13 and the match 3-2.
 
Sundberg led the Gusties' defensive effort with 20 digs during her milestone night. Sahara Morken and Macie Malchow led the team in assists with 27 and 24 respectively. Logan Brent led Gustavus with 18 kills. Leah Berg had 17 kills on .311 hitting and Timm had 14 on .342 hitting.
 
Up next for the Gusties are two more matches at the Pointer Invitational on Saturday, October 4 starting with Millikin at 10:00 a.m. and then closing with UW-Stevens Point at 12:00 p.m.
   

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gustavus Athletics (@gustieathletics)

  Read Full Article