NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The fourth-seeded St. Olaf College volleyball team will begin its fourth-straight appearance in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs by hosting fifth-seeded Augsburg University in the quarterfinals on Wednesday evening.

St. Olaf (13-12, 8-3 MIAC) secured the No. 4 seed with its 8-3 mark in conference play during the regular season and will host fifth-seeded Augsburg (15-12, 6-5 MIAC) at 7 p.m. at Skoglund Center in the quarterfinals. The winner of the match will advance to face top-seeded and regular-season co-champion Gustavus in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. in St. Peter.

Per MIAC policy, admission will be charged for all postseason contests. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $2 for students. Children five and under will get in free. The St. Olaf athletic department will cover the cost for St. Olaf students who show their St. Olaf student ID at the table. Live video and live stats will also be available for those unable to attend. Also per conference policy, spectators will need to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.

Head coach Emily Foster's team is making its 12th appearance in the MIAC Playoffs since the tournament began in 2000 and finished as the runner-up to St. Thomas in the most recent edition of the tournament in 2019. St. Olaf is 13-9 all-time in the tournament and won the tournament in 2000, 2002, and 2010. The Oles' 13 victories in the MIAC Playoffs are the third-most by any program, trailing St. Thomas (25) and Saint Ben's (20).

During the regular season, St. Olaf had one of the MIAC's top offenses, leading the conference in assists per set (12.59), while ranking third in kills per set (13.33) and assists (1,158) and fourth in kills (1,226). The team's rate of 12.59 assists per set ranks 11th in NCAA Division III this season.

Sophomore outside hitter Catherine Moore paces the Oles' offense with 289 kills and an average of 3.14 kills per set, which both rank seventh in the conference. Senior Katelyn Lannom is second on the team with 215 kills (2.36 per set) and is sixth in the conference in attack percentage (.298), while first year outside hitter Madison Gully is one kill behind Lannom with 214 and ranks 12th in the conference in kills per set (2.78).

Senior Brynne Gray and first year Waverly Thao have split setting duties for St. Olaf, with Gray averaging 5.99 assists per set and Thao contributing 4.64 assists per set. Junior libero Selena Rodriguez ranks fourth in the MIAC in digs (412) and sixth in digs per set (4.48), while also ranking sixth in aces (38) and aces per set (0.41). Sophomore defensive specialist Kylie Reardon is also one of the top servers in the conference, ranking seventh in aces (35) and eighth in aces per set (0.38).

Lannom is the Oles' leader in blocks (60) and blocks per set (0.67), which both rank in the top 15 in the conference, while sophomore outside hitter Anysia Caille and junior middle blocker Nicole Banitt both average at least 0.50 blocks per set. Banitt also ranks fifth in the conference in attack percentage (.305) this season.

St. Olaf enters the postseason on the back of three-straight MIAC sweeps to conclude the regular season and is 4-1 on its home court this season. Six of the Oles' 12 losses this season have come to teams ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 at the time and seven of the 12 teams to defeat St. Olaf this year are ranked in this week's national poll.

In the most recent set of NCAA regional rankings, St. Olaf was ranked fifth in Region IX last week behind Wartburg, Northwestern, Gustavus, and Bethel. Hamline, Cornell, and Coe rounded out the top-eight teams in the regional rankings, which are used to evaluate teams in the championship selection process.

Augsburg is making its 10th appearance in the MIAC Playoffs and is in the tournament for the fifth consecutive time. The Auggies secured the No. 5 seed by sweeping St. Scholastica on the final day of the regular season on Saturday in Duluth. Augsburg is 5-9 all-time in the MIAC Playoffs and has lost in the semifinals in each of the last four tournaments.

St. Olaf won a tightly-contested four-set match – 25-22, 25-27, 25-22, 25-23 – when the two teams met in Minneapolis on Oct. 16 thanks to a combined 37 kills from Moore and Gully. The win was the Oles' fifth-straight victory in the head-to-head series between the two programs. Wednesday night's match will be the first-ever postseason meeting between St. Olaf and Augsburg.

The other quarterfinal matchup will see sixth-seeded Saint Ben's visit third-seeded Hamline for a 7 p.m. match in St. Paul. The winner of that match will head to Arden Hills to face second-seeded Bethel, which shared the regular-season title with Gustavus, at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5.