WHITEWATER, Wis. – The No. 10 Gustavus volleyball team won two hard-fought, five-set thrillers Saturday at the UW-Whitewater Tournament, extending its win streak to 10. The Gusties started the day by erasing a 0-2 deficit to defeat UW-La Crosse 19-25, 23-25, 25-13, 25-15, 15-8. They then held off a comeback by host UW-Whitewater, ranked No. 23 in the nation, winning 25-21, 25-16, 14-25, 22-25, 15-10. The Gusties improve to 18-2 overall.
“Today’s two matches were high intensity and our team really had to grind it out after playing tough matches on Thursday and Friday.,” Head Coach Rachelle Sherden said.
Gustavus 3, UW-La Crosse 2 | BOX SCORE
“La Crosse came out firing on all cylinders and we weren’t quite ready to battle,” Sherden said. “Then we got into our groove in the third and played Gustie ball by stepping up defense, served very aggressive, spread our offense and started making smart decisions to attack the holes in their defense, which carried us the rest of the match.”
Gustavus 3, UW-Whitewater 2 | BOX SCORE
“Against Whitewater it was role reversal to our La Crosse match,” Sherden said. “And then in the fifth our team literally played with all the grit, heart, and gas they had left. Before the fifth set [student coach] Tess Olinger told them to keep their foot on the pedal and burn all the gas they had left in the tank. And they did exactly that. They left it all on the floor and it was fun to see them give it their all and grow as a team against really good competition this weekend.”