Senior setter Rachel Batalden (Lamberton, Minn.) and junior outside hitter Tara Houlihan (Sioux Falls, S.D.) were named to the All-Conference team by the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Batalden finished her career at Gustavus with the second-most assists in school history. In the Gusties first-round playoff match against St. Thomas, Batalden compiled 42 assists, raising her career total to 4,012 and recording a second-straight season of over one thousand assists. She finished the season ranked fourth in the MIAC with 11.47 assists per game.
Houlihan finished the season ranked sixth in the MIAC with 3.41 kills per game and seventh in the conference with 4.58 digs per game. Houlihan became the school’s all-time digs leader this season and has amassed 1,226 digs in her career. She has also recorded 17 double-doubles this season, second only to the mark she set last season of 20.
Batalden and Houlihan helped the Gusties compile a 19-7 record this season, the team’s best overall winning percentage since 1985. Gustavus also made its first postseason appearance since the MIAC narrowed the playoff field to six teams in 2001.