NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team celebrated Senior Night with a 25-18, 25-20, 25-22 victory over visiting Saint Mary's University (Minn.) on Friday evening at Skoglund Center.
St. Olaf (2-1) hit 14 aces in the three-set victory and got nine kills apiece from first year
Catherine Moore and senior
Summer Reid in the win over Saint Mary's (5-4). Junior
Katelyn Lannom and sophomore
Nicole Banitt added seven kills apiece for the Oles.
Prior to the match, St. Olaf recognized its five seniors for their contributions to the program over the last four seasons. The class of
Morgan Marxer,
Lexi Wall,
Laura Butka,
Jordan Melz, and
Summer Reid picked up their 73rd victory with the win and has helped the Oles to three appearances in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs and one NCAA Tournament appearance in their careers.
Wall came up one dig shy of a double-double on her Senior Night, tallying 33 assists and nine digs. Sophomore
Selena Rodriguez had a match-high 12 digs for the Oles, while Reid added 11 digs to her nine kills.
Lannom had four of St. Olaf's 14 aces and was one of four Oles with multiple aces on the night. Rodriguez and first year
Kylie Reardon added three apiece, while Wall had two.
Two early aces from Rodriguez accounted for half of a 4-0 run that put St. Olaf ahead 6-3 early in set one. Reardon capped a 7-0 run with consecutive aces of her own to stretch the Oles' lead to 14-5. After trailing by as many as 13, the Cardinals made a late run to get within six, 23-17, before Lannom closed out the set with two late kills.
Wall, Reid, and Lannom had kills on three-straight points as part of a 6-0 run that gave St. Olaf a 13-7 lead midway through the second. Saint Mary's hung around and trailed by just two, 19-17, before the Oles won six of the final nine points, capped by a Lannom ace, to take a two-sets-to-none lead.
Lannom delivered three aces in a row to help St. Olaf to a 9-7 lead in the third after the Cardinals got off to a 5-2 start. Later in the set, Saint Mary's won four-straight points to tie it up at 22-22, but the Oles won the final three points to finish off the sweep.
St. Olaf limited Saint Mary's to a .135 attack percentage in the win despite having just one block in the match. Linnaea Wallis had a match-high 12 kills and added 11 digs for the Cardinals.
The Oles host Gustavus Adolphus College on Monday, May 3 at 7 p.m. in their final home match of the season.