SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus College volleyball team hosted Concordia College on Friday night at Gus Young Court in a MIAC matchup. The Gusties earned a 3-1 victory over the Cobbers, winning by set scores of 25-10, 25-23, 19-25, and 25-23. With the victory, Gustavus improved to 17-11 overall and 7-3 in conference play, while Concordia dropped to 12-12 overall and 5-5 in the MIAC.
Gustavus came out firing in the opening set, jumping ahead 4-0 behind kills from
Greta Tompkins,
Sahara Morken, and
Logan Brent. After Concordia cut the deficit to 5-3, the Gusties went on a 7-0 run, highlighted by three kills from Brent and a service ace from
Macie Malchow, to extend their lead to 12-3. Gustavus continued to dominate offensively, building a 20-7 advantage before closing out the set 25-10. The Gusties hit an impressive .438 in the set, recording 15 kills with just one attack error.
The Cobbers responded in the second set, jumping ahead 6-3 before Gustavus battled back to tie the score at 7-7. The teams traded points until Concordia took a 14-12 lead. Gustavus answered with a 7-1 run, highlighted by two kills from
Meaghan Kreiser and a service ace from Brent, to build a 19-15 advantage. The Cobbers fought back to tie the score at 21-21, but Brent delivered two more kills to give Gustavus a 23-22 lead. Malchow followed with a service ace before Brent secured the set 25-23 with another kill.
Gustavus carried its momentum into the third set, jumping ahead 7-4 before extending its lead to 12-7 behind consecutive service aces from Morken. Concordia responded with five straight points to tie the score at 12-12 before the teams traded points to make it 14-14. The Cobbers then took control with a 7-1 run to build a 20-15 advantage. Gustavus battled back with three consecutive points, including a block from
Lauren Wiese and
Lainie Barrick, to cut the deficit to 20-18. Concordia answered by winning five of the final six points to take the set 25-19.
The Cobbers carried their momentum into the fourth set, jumping out to an early 5-1 lead before Gustavus battled back to cut the deficit to 5-4. Concordia extended its advantage to 11-7, but the Gusties continued to battle, cutting the deficit to 16-15. The Cobbers answered with a 5-1 run to build a 21-16 lead before Gustavus mounted a late comeback. Trailing 23-20, the Gusties scored five consecutive points, highlighted by a kill from Tompkins and a block from Barker and Tompkins, before Morken delivered a match-winning service ace to secure the set 25-23.
Brent led the Gustavus offense with 15 kills and two service aces, while Kreiser followed with 11 kills on .276 hitting. Tompkins and Wiese each contributed eight kills on .333 hitting, while Barrick added five kills and three total blocks. Morken paced the Gustie attack with 20 assists and three service aces, while Malchow added 16 assists and two aces.
Ava Hahn led Gustavus with 23 digs, while Brent and
Hannah Baron each recorded 10 digs. As a team, Gustavus finished with 54 kills on .220 hitting, seven service aces, and 72 digs.
Up next for the Gusties is their regular season finale at Hamline University on Saturday, November 7 at 3:00 p.m.
