Parker Burman-
This past week, ranking at No.16 in the AVCA Volleyball’s national ranking, the Gustavus Volleyball team faced off against fellow MIAC school Macalester at Gustavus for a single match. Gustavus, who has been dominant all year, dominated Macalester on the way to a 3-0 sweep for their fourth victory in a row.
In the first set, the Gusties fell behind early to the Scots who jumped out to an early 4-2. Gustavus battled back and forth, fighting back with eight ties. Macalester rallied each time to prevent Gustavus from going on a run to take the lead from them.
However, Gustavus’s high-powered offense could only be contained for so long, as they broke out for a 7-1 run to put them up 23-20. Macalester fought back to tie Gustavus 23-23 and 24-24 before a pair of kills from Sophomore Leah Berg and Senior Madi Kes to win the set 26-24.
“Getting a kill in a big situation is exciting and I couldn’t do it without our amazing defense and amazing sets from Kasie,” Senior Marlee Turn said.
“Big blocks are always the best feeling to get during a game, especially when the score is tight. It is something that always fires our team up and gives us energy on and off the court, so it motivates us to keep working hard to dominate the opposing team,” Kes said.
Set two was much more one-sided than set one. The Gusties took an immediate 5-0 lead and never trailed once during the set. In addition to this, Gustavus went on an 11-point scoring streak without giving up a single point to Macalester to take a 20-5 advantage, before winning the set 25-8.
“I was happy with the way I played against Macalester. Defensively, I feel like I did well with blocking and slowing down their attackers. Offensively, I think I did my job by pulling the block and opening up the court for our outside and right side attackers, while also being aggressive with my own attacking,” Kes said.
“My veteran teammates have helped me as a younger player because they let me lean on them and embrace my mistakes to help me learn from them. I know that they are there for me, and they give me a lot of feedback as well,” First-year Sophia Deyak said.
Set three was much more competitive than set two with both Gustavus and Macalester going back and forth for the early portion of the set. Each team traded points resulting in eight ties to start the set. Gustavus would go on to rattle off five straight points to start and grow a lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the way. Gustavus would go on to win the third set by a score of 25-17 and complete the sweep.
“Our team knew that we could play better than what we did in set one, so we used that as motivation to come out strong in the next two sets and take control of the game in the best ways that we knew how,” Kes said.
“I think I performed well, it helped that I was coming into a game that already had lots of energy. The team supported me a lot and wanted me to do good,” Deyak said.
Senior Lauren Klaith led the team with 16 kills on the night, many of which came in impressive fashion in high-leverage situations, finishing with a .469 attack percentage. Turn finished just one kill short of matching Klaith for the team lead as she picked on 15 on the night for a .344 attack percentage. In addition to all of the kills she had on the night, Turn collected 13 digs on the back line for her ninth double-double of the season so far. Not to be outdone, Senior Kasie Tweet finished the match with 32 assists, while Kes led the team in blocks with three on the night.
“The younger girls have been doing awesome! I love that so many have stepped up and really helped us be successful,” Turn said.
“Of course, our goal is always to win every match that we play and I fully believe that our team is capable of beating any team that we come across. However, we like to focus on just playing our game and doing what we do best and the score of the game will follow,” Kes said.
Gustavus will next match up for a pair of road games this weekend against rivals St. Scholastica today, Friday, Oct. 6, in Duluth at 7:00 p.m., and then they play again against Hamline in St. Paul at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. With the season beginning to start winding down, each game becomes bigger and bigger, so go support your Gustavus Volleyball team!