Trailing 2-0 and facing match point, the Buena Vista volleyball team would catch fire and won the third set, 29-27, and eventually came up with the thrilling five-set victory over Gustavus Adolphus to spoil the home opener for the host team on day one of the Gustavus Adolphus Invite.

The Gusties took sets one and two by identical 25-21 scores and were one point away in the third set from picking up a sweep.  The Beavers, however, kept the set alive and eventually posted a 29-27 triumph.  Another thrilling 25-23 victory in the fourth set forced the decisive fifth set where the team battled hard and squeaked out a 15-13 win.

Sophomore Maddie Bardole led the way with a school-record 33 kills in the match and a hitting percentage of .282.  She surpasses the previous school mark of 28 kills set by Kristen Staiert against Wartburg College back in 2005.  Freshman Jade Schapp followed with 24 kills which is tied for the fourth-highest total.

Laura Barry did her part by dishing out a career-high 61 assists which is the fourth-highest total.  She's the first Beaver to reach 60 assists in any match since Molly Reuter did so against Luther College in 2007.

As a team, BVU finished with 71 kills which is the sixth-highest total in school history.  It's the most for the program since totaling 70 against Luther in 2007.

Defensively, three players also chipped in with at least 20 digs, including a team-high 27 from Schaap.  Jordan Henningsen was next with 24 as Bardole chipped in with 22.

With only a short time to rest before having to come right back to play Minnesota-Morris, a team that entered the match at 7-2 overall, the Beavers showed little signs of being slowed down as they went on to a 3-1 victory.

BVU came out and won a thrilling 28-26 first set before Minnesota-Morris evend the match with a narrow 27-25 triumph of its own.  From there, the Beavers took control and picked up 25-20 and 25-18 victories, respectively.

Schaap followed up with 20 kills to lead the way as Bardole chimed in with 18.  Celie Kohls also matched a career-high with eight, as the Beavers posted a .288 hitting percentage in the match.  She also added five total blocks.  Barry went over 500 assists on the year with 47, as Bardole led four players in double-digits with 17 digs.

"Any time you can come back from 2-0 and match point down, and win a five-set match, that's something to be proud of as a coach," said BVU head coach Lori Slight.  "Then, to turn around right away and win another tough match against a team who traditionally does well in their conference, speaks volumes about this team.  They grow every time they step on the court.  I'm so excited moving forward into the conference portion of our season."

Buena Vista improves to 7-6 on the year and has now won a season-high three straight matches.  The team looks to keep the momentum going when it plays two more matches on Saturday to close out the Invite.  It begins with a 10:00am contest against Augsburg before taking on UW-Stout at 12:00pm.

Minnesota-Morris bounced back to sweep Augsburg, 3-0, in its final match of the day while UW-Stout was swept in its first match against Bethel.