NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The No. 24 Gustavus volleyball team traveled to Northfield, Minnesota on Friday night for the first night of action in the Carleton/St. Olaf Invitational. The Gusties defeated No. 19 Dubuque, 3-0.
Set one was a tight 25-23 contest in which both teams had leads, the Gusties as large as two and the Dubuque Spartans' as big as three. After trading points until 8-8, Dubuque went on a 12-9 run to take a 20-17 lead late in the set. A kill by
Leah Berg (Sr., Kenyon, Minn.) got the Gusties back on track coupled with tough serving by first-year
Greta Tompkins (Prior Lake, Minn.) to tie the match at 20-20. Berg cleaned up the set with two more kills, both assisted by reigning MIAC Volleyball Specialist of the Week
Macie Malchow (So., Sioux Falls, S.D.). In the first set,
Logan Brent (So., Ramsey, Minn.) led the Gusties with five kills and the Gusties overcame four service errors with a hitting percentage 14 points higher than Dubuque to close out the first set.
The second set followed the same script, with a Gustavus second set victory, 25-23. This time, it was
Sydney Timm (Sr., Lakeville, Minn.) who played the lead, garnering six kills across the set. The Gusties took an early 7-4 lead off of two service aces by
Ella Olson (Fy., Mankato, Minn.) and two attack errors by the Spartans. Dubuque found their stride in the middle third of the set, going on a 9-2 run to pull themselves back in the set and take a 15-12 lead. After a timeout called by head coach
Jacob Voss, the Gusties went on a 7-1 run themselves, balancing their attack with kills by four different players, and a block by Timm and
Sophia Deyak (Jr., Iowa City, Iowa). The rollercoaster of a set continued as Dubuque, once again, went on a run, this time 6-1, to put themselves in prime position, up 23-21. Gustavus found their stride yet again, this time with the help of two Timm kills and one added by Brent to finish off the second set, 25-23.
The third set was when the Gusties found their stride, hitting .407, their second best single set clip of the year so far, with 12 kills and adding four blocks as well. The third set was categorized by a balanced, dual attack, with Berg and Brent each having four kills. 5-4 Gustavus was the closest this set would get, when the Gusties went on a 8-0 run to extend their lead to 13-4 in what would end up being the deciding set. This was in part by kills by Malchow and Brent, but Dubuque contributed four attack errors to the run as well. At this point, Dubuque was forced to burn their second and final timeout of the set, where after one point by the Spartans, the Gusties would close out the match on a 11-5 run, courtesy of kills by Berg, Deyak, Brent, and Tompkins and a block by Deyak.
The Gusties as a team hit .212, .04 below their season average, but kept Dubuque to a .032 clip, their lowest of the season by .089 and the fifth lowest percentage allowed by the Gusties this season. The Gustavus defense was key tonight, contributing 18 digs more than their opponents and 10 blocks total. Malchow finished the night with 33 assists, Timm and Brent both had 11 kills, and Brent hit .400, the best of her career with over 10 attempts.
The 11-1 start is the best start in team history since the 2017 season when Gustavus advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinal before dropping a 3-1 decision to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the eventual national champion. The Gusties schedule does not get any easier to finish the weekend, facing Wartburg and No. 1 UW-Whitewater tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., respectively.
