SAINT PETER, Minn. – The No. 21 nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus College volleyball team battled the Saint Mary's University Cardinals at home Wednesday night in a conference contest. The Gusties defeated the Cardinals by way of a 3-0 sweep to improve to 23-5 overall and 9-1 in the MIAC. The win also secured Gustavus the No. 2 seed in the MIAC Playoffs.
Gustavus used a 7-1 run to take an early 9-5 lead in the first set. The Gusties later used a 5-0 run to go up 17-9. Saint Mary's then found their footing and, trailing 21-14, went on a 4-0 run to pull to withing three down 21-18. Gustavus won two in a row to go up 23-18, but the Cardinals answered with two of their own to make it 23-20. Back-to-back kills by
Sydney Timm and
Logan Brent secured the 25-20 opening set win for the Gusties.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams. Gustavus worked their way to reach set point up 24-22, but Saint Mary's responded with a 3-0 run to reach set point for themselves up 25-24. The Gusties fended off that threat with a kill by Brent to tie the set, but the Cardinals won the following point to again reach set point up 26-25. This time,
Greta Tompkins landed a kill to tie the set at 26-26. Gustavus went on to reach set point twice themselves, eventually winning it 29-27 on an ace by
Sahara Morken.
In set three, the two teams continued their highly competitive play. The Gusties used a 3-0 run to take an 18-14 lead midway through, but the Cardinals responded with a 4-0 run to tie the set at 18-18. Gustavus won the next two, but a 4-1 run by Saint Mary's gave them a 22-21 lead. The Gusties responded by winning the final four points to secure the 25-22 set win and the 3-0 match sweep.
Brent led the Gusties' attack with 12 kills on .250 hitting.
Sahara Morken orchestrated the offense with 24 assists.
Maren Sundberg led the defensive effort with 11 digs.
Up next for the Gusties is their final game of the regular season on Saturday, November 8 as they host the Hamline University Pipers at 5:00 p.m.
