Parker Burman – Staff Writer
This weekend the Gustavus Volleyball team hosted the Gustavus Triangular Saturday, welcoming Bethel and Dubuque for a series of matches. Ranked the 20th team in the country heading into the weekend, the Gusties were looking to continue building on a strong season. Having won their last four matches, including a match Friday against Carleton, the Gusties were able to build off that.
“I think we were ready to go this weekend. We had a tough weekend last weekend and we got in and got after it. Everyone was very excited to have two conference matches and to be home. It was our first home game this season so the energy was spectacular,” Senior Sarah Elliott said.
In match one against an undefeated in conference Bethel, the Gusties secured the first two sets 25-22 for each. Bethel put up more of a struggle in the third set of the match as they beat Gustavus 25-23. It took only one more set for the Gusties to finish off Bethel as they secured the fourth set 25-18.
Individually and as a team the Gusties kept humming along, racking up stats up and down their roster. After having led the Gustavus attack on Friday against Carleton, Elliott and Junior Marlee Turn were back at it Saturday, each racking up 13 kills against Bethel. Not to be outdone, Junior Kasie Tweet added to her team lead in assists, dishing out 47 helpers and picking up 10 digs for another double-double.
“I have a strong setter-hitter connection with many of our hitters. This has come from hard work from all of the girls in the gym– we all push ourselves and each other to compete and play to our highest potential,” Tweet said.
“It’s really a lot of credit to Kasie for giving me great balls. I also have a lot of help from my teammates and coaches about spots that are open on the court,” Elliott said.
The second match of the day against Dubuque was an easy victory for the Gusties, who faced little resistance to their high powered attack. In the first set Gustavus quickly went up 5-0, a lead that would continue to grow as they won 25-13. Sets two and three were much the same as Dubuque was unable to find an answer to stop the scoring. Gustavus finished sets two and three 25-15 and 25-13 respectively, securing another sweep on the year.
“Getting to play at home is the best ever! It brings so much excitement and electricity to our team, so after many games on the road, we were all so excited to play in front of our home crowd,” Turn said.
Turn once again led the team in kills, posting 12, narrowly edging out Elliot with nine. Tweet managed to deal out another 33 assists and collected 10 digs for back to back double-doubles, and First-year Maren Sundberg led the team with 19 digs.
“The middle blocker is a very dynamic position which allows me to contribute to the team in so many different aspects on the court. While blocking is a major focus, we also have a large role in our team’s offense. It really is such a fun position to be a part of as I am able to contribute to the team in so many ways,” Senior Sydney Olson said.
After completing this grueling tournament, the Gusties are looking forward to a few days of rest before getting back into action this weekend against Augsburg and St. Olaf.
“With a few days off, we are all ready to give our bodies some rest, but then get after it in the gym because we have two big MIAC conference games this weekend,” Turn said.
The Gusties are positioning themselves to make a deep run with only nine games remaining on the schedule before the start of the MIAC quarterfinals. As one of only two teams still undefeated in conference play, the Gusties believe this can be another special year.
“Gritty practices have carried over to game time, allowing us to get some big wins. We are excited to keep pushing ourselves the rest of this season,” Tweet said.
“Augsburg is a great program, and we know going in that it is going to be a battle. Our mindset heading into the match is to simply be us, as we always say, and play Gustie Volleyball,” Olson said.