The Gustavus women’s volleyball team closed out its season with a
thrilling 3-2 win (30-22, 25-30, 32-30, 26-30, 18-16) at home over St.Mary’s. The Gusties needed a victory to keep their hopes of claiming the sixth and final MIAC playoff spot.
Unfortunately, Gustavus needed Carleton to lose to St. Olaf to create a tie for sixth place and the Knights dashed the Gustie hopes with a 3-0 sweep of the Oles. Gustavus finishes its season at 18-10 overall and 6-5 in the MIAC (tied for seventh place with Macalester). St. Mary’s falls to 20-9 overall and 7-4 in the MIAC. The Cardinals will advance to play in the MIAC playoffs after finishing in a tie for third place.
The match was extremely tight as Gustavus picked up wins in games one and three, while the Cardinals countered with wins in games two and four. The fifth and final game was full of runs with each team having several chances to put away the match. Gustavus jumped out to a 6-2 lead, before St. Mary’s rallied to tie the match at 7-7. The Cardinals then moved out to an 11-8 lead, before the Gusties countered to tie the match at 11-11. Gustavus survived match points at 13-14 and 14-15 before rallying to win the game and the match 18-16.
Gustavus was led Anne Osthus and Tara Houlihan with 19 kills each.
Houlihan also contributed 31 digs. Senior Jessica Schaetzke contributed 17 kills in her final collegiate match. Rachel Batalden contributed 61 set assists. The Gusties compiled 71 kills in 192 attempts with 31 errors for a .208 attack percentage.
St. Mary’s was led by Kristan Rouzer and Tracy Koertgen with 18 kills each. Rouzer also contributed 32 digs. Tessa Stranik compiled 52 set assists.
Gustavus senior Jessica Schaetzke completed her career ranked seventh all-time in kills with a total of 1,075.