WAVERLY, Iowa – The Gustavus Adolphus College volleyball team opened their weekend competition at the Wartburg Invitational with matches against the Wheaton College Thunder and the tournament-host Wartburg College Knights. The Gusties swept the Thunder 3-0 to open the night and then took down the Knights in a five-set marathon to improve their record to 3-2 overall on the season.
Match One vs. Wheaton
In the first match of the night against Wheaton, the opening set was kept close through the opening points with Gustavus holding a narrow 9-8 lead early. At that point, the Gusties caught fire to take the next six points in a row to go up 15-8. The Thunder climbed back to within five points down 17-12, but Gustavus then won six of the next seven points to go up 23-13 en route to a 25-15 opening set win.
The Gusties leapt out the gate in set two, taking an early 9-1 lead that then became a 15-3 lead through the first 18 points. Wheaton found their footing and played even the rest of the set, but it was far too late for the Thunder as Gustavus cruised to a 25-13 second-set win, going to 2-0 in the match.
Wheaton took an early 5-2 lead in the third set, but Gustavus counted by winning seven of the next eight points to go up 9-6. The Thunder won the next two points to pull within one down 9-8, but the Gusties went on a 9-2 run to go up 18-10 over Wheaton. Gustavus never led by less than five points the rest of the way as Gustavus took the set 25-17 to complete the three-set sweep of the Thunder.
Logan Brent led the attack for the Gusties with 12 kills on .421 hitting and two service aces.
Sophia Deyak and
Greta Tompkins followed with seven kills each, hitting .875 and .313 respectively.
Macie Malchow and
Sahara Morken orchestrated Gustavus' offense with 19 and 18 assists respectively.
Ava Hahn led the defensive effort with 13 digs.
As a team, the Gusties hit .446 in the win while holding Wheaton to just .130 hitting.
Match Two vs. Wartburg
In the second match of the night against tournament-host Wartburg, the opening set began like the previous with Gustavus this time trailing 10-9. Unlike in the opening match, it was the Gusties opponent who then caught fire as the Knights outscored Gustavus 15-4 the rest of the way as Wartburg took the first set 25-13.
The second set was going the way of the Knights early as, after the Gusties won the first three points, Wartburg went on an 11-3 run to take an early seven-point lead up 11-4. Gustavus slowly battled back to tie the set up at 19-19, though the Knights then retook the lead by taking the next four points in a row. Trailing 23-19 and facing the prospect of being down two sets early, the Gusties caught fire down the stretch and won the next six points in a row to steal the set 25-23 from the Knights, tying the match up at 1-1.
Gustavus used an early 5-0 run to go up 6-3 on Wartburg in the third set and later led 12-8 over the Knights. Wartburg then won five in a row themselves to take a 14-12 lead. The Gusties retook the lead up 17-16, but the Knights won the next three to go up again at 19-17. Gustavus trailed by one point down 20-19 when Wartburg found their stride and took five of the next six points to win the set 25-20, taking a 2-1 lead over the Gusties.
Undaunted, Gustavus responded in force with a 9-0 run to open the fourth set and then a four-point run afterwards to take an early 13-1 lead. The Knights started to climb back in the set, using an 8-2 run to cut the Gusties lead from 12 to six points, though still trailing Gustavus 19-13. Their early run was more than enough for Gustavus as they nonetheless went on to take the set 25-18 to even the match up at 2-2.
The fifth and final set was kept close through the early points as neither team managed to take more than two points in a row until the score reached 10-9 with the Gusties up by one. At that point, Gustavus slammed the door closed on the Knights with five-consecutive kills to take the set 15-9 and the match 3-2.
Logan Brent again led the Gusties with 18 kills, hitting .298 in the victory.
Kyra Johnson followed with 13 kills on .267 hitting.
Macie Malchow led the team with 31 assists in the five-set win.
Ava Hahn totaled 16 digs to lead the defense.
Up Next
Gustavus will compete in two more matches at the Wartburg Invite on Saturday, September 12, starting with the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils at 10:00 a.m. and then closing the tournament with a match against the Bethany Lutheran Vikings at 12:00 p.m.
