ST. PETER, Minn. – Facing a pair of teams receiving votes in the national rankings, the St. Olaf College volleyball team fell in five sets to host Gustavus Adolphus College and swept UW-La Crosse in a tri-match on Saturday afternoon at Gus Young Court.

In the first match of the day, St. Olaf (9-10, 4-1 MIAC) won the first two sets before Gustavus (17-4, 5-1 MIAC) rallied for a 22-25, 21-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-4 victory to hand the Oles their first conference loss of the season. Later in the day, St. Olaf rebounded with a 25-18, 25-19, 26-24 win over UW-La Crosse (15-5) in the first meeting between the two programs since Sept. 30, 2011.

Gustavus 3, St. Olaf 2 | Box Score

The Oles started quickly in the first match of the day by winning the first two sets before the Gusties rallied for the five-set win. St. Olaf became the first team this season to win the first two sets off of Gustavus but was unable to close out the match in a tight third set.

Junior Selena Rodriguez had a career-high 32 digs to go with seven assists and one ace for the Oles in what was Rodriguez's second match this season with at least 30 digs. Sophomore Kylie Reardon added 20 digs and two aces as well.

Offensively, sophomore Catherine Moore registered a match-high 17 kills on 34 swings while hitting .294 and was joined in double figures in kills by senior Katelyn Lannom with 11 and junior Christina Cheng with 10. Cheng added 11 digs for her first collegiate double-double.

The Oles surged out to a 12-6 lead midway through the opening set after winning five-straight points, but the Gusties quickly rallied to tie the set at 13-13. Trailing 16-15, St. Olaf won five of the next six points to go up by three only for Gustavus to tie it again at 20-20. A kill by Lannom followed by an ace by Rodriguez put the Oles back on top to start 5-1 finish to the set for St. Olaf.

In the second set, St. Olaf had 18 kills and just two errors to hit .333. Moore had five kills in the set while Lannom and Cheng added four apiece. Down 8-4 early, the Oles won 11 of the next 13 points to take a 15-10 lead and held on the rest of the way to take a two-sets-to-none lead.

The third set featured six ties and four lead changes but ultimately went the way of the hosts to extend the match. With St. Olaf leading 19-17, Gustavus won six points in a row to take a 23-19 advantage. The Oles got within one, 23-22, by winning the next three points, but Sydney Olson had kills on two of the final three points of the set for the Gusties.

Gustavus limited St. Olaf to a .033 attack percentage in the fourth set, seizing control with a 6-0 run to go ahead, 20-12. The Oles responded with a 6-0 of their own to get within two before the Gusties won the final five points to end a see-saw set.

In the decider, Gustauvs jumped out to early leads of 4-1 and 6-2 and never looked back, taking the set by a 15-4 margin. After leading 6-3, the Gusties won nine of the final 10 points to leapfrog the Oles in the MIAC standings with the win.

St. Olaf 3, UW-La Crosse 0 | Box Score

Sophomore Nora Zielke paced St. Olaf with a match-high 11 kills and Moore added 10 of her own in the win over UW-La Crosse to close out the day. The Oles held the Eagles to an attack percentage of .088 for the match while hitting .242 in the win.

Zielke reached double figures in kills for the fourth time this season and hit .348 to lead the way, while Moore had her 10 kills on 24 attempts. Lannom and sophomore Anysia Caille combined for 11 kills on 20 errorless swings for St. Olaf, which got 12 digs from Rodriguez and 10 from Reardon.

The Oles never trailed in the opening set, breaking an early 4-4 tie with a 6-1 run to go ahead, 10-5. St. Olaf led by as many as 11 at 19-8 as Zielke had six kills on eight swings in the set.

In set two, UW-La Crosse held a 15-14 advantage before St. Olaf won the next eight points on its way to taking a two-sets-to-none lead. Caille had all three of her kills in the set during the decisive 8-0 run.

The third set featured 13 ties and six lead changes before the Oles were able to close out the sweep. Neither team led by more than three points the entire set, as St. Olaf held three three-point advantages and UW-La Crosse had one. Trailing 18-17, the Oles built a 23-20 lead with a 6-2 run and had a two match points leading 24-22. The Eagles saved both match points on a service error and an attack error, but a service error of their own and a block finished off the win for St. Olaf.

The Oles visit Bethel University on Friday, Oct. 15 for a 7 p.m. start in Arden Hills. The Royals were ranked No. 24 in the country this week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and, along with St. Olaf, are one of three teams with 4-1 records sitting right behind Gustavus in the MIAC standings.