Staff Writer- Maddie Low

The Volleyball team has won their last five games and they do not intend to drop the streak.
Their first win of this run came in a 3-0 sweep against Schreiner University on the final day of
the Trinity University National Invitational in San Antonio, Texas. The team then traveled to
Waverly, Iowa a week later to play in the Wartburg College Invite where they snagged another
3-0 sweep against Wheaton College and a hard fought 3-2 win against the tournament hosts,
Wartburg College.
They followed it up on Saturday with two more wins, the first of the day coming
from a 3-1 win against University of Wisconsin Stout and the other in yet another 3-0 sweep
against Bethany Lutheran College to round out the weekend.
In the match against Schreiner, Gustavus led the opening set early 9-4. The Mountaineers had a moment to build a couple points back up, bringing the set to 18-9, but the Gusties grabbed the first set 25-13. The second set kicked off quickly for yet another early Gustavus lead at 8-1. They built up a strong eight point lead at 18-10 that shortly thereafter turned into 23-15, however Schreiner fought them back leaving a 24-22 score.
Fortunately, Gustavus bagged that set 25-22 after a kill from Freshman Lauren Barker. “The first win was super fun. The best part was how fun and competitive the team was. The energy and competitiveness was high the whole game.” Barker says.
Against Wheaton, the opening set was played close while Gustavus held a 9-8 lead. After that, the Gusties lit up the court with six more points for a score of 15-8 and eventually to a 25-15 set win. In the second set, Gustavus took yet another early lead and they gave Wheaton no chance to catch up as they won the second set 25-13. Wheaton took the early lead in the third set 5-2 but they played out a strong finish, Gustavus never leading with less than 5 points and ended it 25-17.
Playing against Wartburg, Gustavus was trailing 10-9 early in the first set and they did
not gain the upper hand, losing the first set 13-25. In the second set, Wartburg still had the lead
again 3-11, but Gustavus fought back to tie the game 19-19 before the Knights took another
lead 19-23. Persistent to not be down two sets, the Gusties picked it back up, winning the next
six points to win out the second set 25-23 and tie 1-1.
In the third set, Gustavus opened up with an early 5-0 run, but disappointingly, Wartburg took the third set 20-25 putting the match at 1-2. Determined to not stay at a loss, Gustavus blew open the fourth set 9-0 and even as Wartburg tried to come back, the Gusties did not allow it, taking the set 25-18 and tying the game 2-2. In the game determining set, it was played close early, neither team getting more than two points in a row. But once Gustavus had a 10-9 lead on Wartburg, they banged out five in a row for a game winning 15-9, 3-2 score.
Junior Macie Malchow had an incredible performance throughout this game with 31 assists.
“I’m really proud of that performance, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates making plays and finishing the points.” Malchow said. “I think that performance represents me well as a player because I always try to stay consistent, make smart decisions, and put my teammates in the best position to succeed.”
In the game against UW-Stout, both teams played a strong first set. So much so they
tied it 24-24, the Gusties took two more set points but the Blue Devils won it 26-28.

“To come back against UW-Stout, we stayed positive, communicated, and trusted each other. We focused on one point at a time and didn’t let the first set affect us.” Malchow said. In the second set,Gustavus jumped out with an early 7-3 lead and at times led by as many as ten points, like their 19-9 lead mid game.
Gustavus won the set 25-18, tying the match 1-1. Early in the third set, Gustavus had a 11-10 lead and won that set with another 25-18 score. The final set was played tight and UW-Stout took the early lead but by the time it was a 23-24 game, the Gusties pulled it off finishing 29-27 with an ace from Junior Kyra Johnson.
Finally, against Bethany Lutheran, the first half of the set was played close and within
two points but Gustavus won it 25-18. In the second, the Gusties had an 8-0 run that led them to
an 11-3 lead and they never gave Bethany much more, taking the set 25-13. Gustavus did not
give Bethany Lutheran any leeway as they swept the game 3-0, taking the final set 25-16.
Freshman Lainie Barrick had a very strong defensive game with 5 blocks.
The Gusties have been working hard to keep a great team dynamic, pushing each other
to be their best.
“We have a really talented and special group of girls,” said Barrick, “We are all hard workers and we’ve already shown a lot of growth since the preseason. I’m expecting a very successful season for us.”
The team will travel to Mount Vernon, Iowa on Friday, September 18th to play against Hope College and hosting team, Cornell College.