NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Sophomore
Summer Reid and junior
Lauren Rewers combined for 23 kills as the St. Olaf College volleyball team swept Martin Luther College by scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-8 on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.
Reid tallied a match-high 12 kills and Rewers added 11 for St. Olaf (20-5) to help the Oles sweep Martin Luther (6-22) for the second time this season. The win was the 20th of the season for St. Olaf, giving the Oles back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2009 and 2010.
Rewers and Reid both hit over .330 for St. Olaf, which hit at a .280 clip in the victory, while holding the Knights to a .038 mark. First-year
Katelyn Lannom added eight kills on 14 swings to hit .500 on the night. Sophomore
Lexi Wall tallied 36 assists, while junior
Haley Langeslag posted a match-high 17 digs.
The Oles hit .300 in the first set to take it 25-17, with Reid and Rewers each contributing four kills in the opener. Lannom had consecutive kills to help St. Olaf to a 6-2 start before the Oles opened up a 16-9 lead that ended with a Lannom ace. The Knights hung around, trailing 20-16, before St. Olaf pulled away by winning four-straight points behind the Wall serve late in the set.
Martin Luther led 10-7 in the second before St. Olaf took the lead with a 6-1 run to force a timeout by the Knights. The Oles held a slender 20-19 lead late in the set before rattling off the final five points to go up two sets to none. Reid had back-to-back kills to start the 5-0 close to the set and added another two points later.
Junior
Emily Jarnigan hit a pair of aces during a 5-0 run early in the third that put St. Olaf ahead, 9-3, at a Martin Luther timeout. After the Knights ended the run out of the stoppage, the Oles won six consecutive points to blow the set open. St. Olaf hit .435 with just two errors in the third set and led by as many as the final margin of 17.
Winners of seven matches in a row, St. Olaf plays its second of three home matches this week on Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. on Youth Night at Skoglund Center.