SAINT PETER, Minn. – History was made Friday night at Gus Young Court. With her third assist of the match, Nora Holtan (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) broke a 22-year old record for most career assists in Gustavus volleyball history, surpassing Jess Lobben’s (1993-96) mark of 4,201. The No. 10-ranked Gusties went on to defeat Concordia in four sets 27-25, 25-15, 20-25, 25-14 for their 14th consecutive win, improving to 22-2 overall and 8-0 in the MIAC.
“It’s pretty incredible to break a 22-year old record,” Head Coach Rachelle Sherden said of Holtan. “Clearly, she’s a record-breaking setter with a lot of honors, but what I’m most proud of about her is her relentless pursuit of getting better every day and making everyone around her better. She’s dedicated so much time and effort to this program and she’s very deserving of this record.”
Holtan finished the match with 53 assists, tying a season high. It also marked her 14th career match with at least 50 assists. Kate Holtan (So., Rochester, Minn.) was the top attacker with 18 kills and a .326 hitting percentage. Kate also registered a career-high 25 digs. Lauren Hanson (Sr., Redwood Falls, Minn.) was a big contributor on offense with 15 kills and a .229 attack rate. Brittany Luethmers (Sr., Prior Lake, Minn.) guided the defense with 27 digs.
As a team, the Gusties were tough on the serve with a season-high 13 aces. Their 95 digs also marked a season high.
“Serving is something we work on so much,” Sherden said. “It wasn’t as clean at the beginning of the match but then we started to pick it up. Against teams like Concordia with strong outside attackers, we need to get them out of system and that worked well tonight with our serving.”
Gustavus started the match strong with a 15-9 lead in the first set, forcing a Concordia timeout. The Cobbers responded with 10-4 run to tie the game 19-19. Concordia then took a 22-21 lead and held set point twice, but the Gusties answered with a couple kills and an ace to close out the set.
The second set see-sawed at the start with a 5-0 Gustavus lead and then a 7-2 Concordia run to tie the score. The Gusties eventually broke away late in the set, finishing with 10 of the last 12 points.
The third frame featured 12 ties and seven lead changes, but the Cobbers were able to pull away in the end for the five-point decision. Gustavus got back on track in the fourth and led from start to finish.
Gustavus is back in action at 5 p.m. Saturday as it hosts Saint Benedict in battle of undefeated teams in the MIAC. The Blazers (21-5, 8-0 MIAC) beat St. Olaf 3-1 tonight.
“We’re excited to be home again and face some challenging competition,” Sherden said. “We just need to go out tomorrow and play our game rather than feeding into the emotion of this one matchup. I think it’s going to be a really good volleyball match.”