MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team recovered from a four-set loss to Wartburg College to start the day to outlast the University of Dubuque in five sets at the Augsburg Invitational on Saturday at Si Melby Hall.

St. Olaf (2-4) started the day by dropping a close four-setter to Wartburg (8-0) in a matchup of teams receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25, going down 25-14, 25-27, 25-21, 25-23. The Oles bounced back with a 25-18, 21-25, 25-20, 25-27, 15-11 win over Dubuque (3-5) for their second five-set win this season.

Junior Selena Rodriguez had 46 digs, 12 assists, and five aces over the two matches and was named to the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the tournament after finishing the weekend with 64 digs (4.92 per set) over St. Olaf's three matches. Sophomore Catherine Moore led the team offensively with 29 kills on the day and had a team-leading 42 for the weekend.

Wartburg 3, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score

After opening the day with a 25-14, 25-15, 25-17 sweep of No. 13 UW-Eau Claire, Wartburg closed out a 3-0 weekend and remained unbeaten this season by holding off St. Olaf in four sets. The Oles rebounded from dropping the opening set by taking the second set in extra points, but the Knights claimed the final two sets.

First year Madison Gully paced St. Olaf with 13 kills, while senior Katelyn Lannom and Moore had nine kills apiece. Senior Brynne Gray had her third consecutive assist-dig double-double with 26 assists and 11 digs. Defensively, Rodriguez recorded a team-high 22 digs, while sophomore Kylie Reardon had a career-high 20 digs.

Wartburg raced out to a 13-3 lead in the opening set and hit .323 on its way to a 25-14 set win. The second set featured 16 ties and six lead changes, with St. Olaf breaking a 25-25 tie thanks to a kill by sophomore Nora Zielke and an attack error by the Knights. Lannom had six of her nine kills in the match in the second set.

In the third, the Knights never trailed after taking a 3-2 lead in the early stages. The Oles trailed by just two, 15-13, midway through the set, but Wartburg won the next four points to open up a six-point cushion and eventually took it, 25-21.

Gully recorded five of her 13 kills in the fourth set, which included 13 ties and five lead changes. St. Olaf got kills from sophomore Anysia Caille, Gully, and Moore to break a 17-17 tie and go ahead by three, but Wartburg won eight of the final 11 points to seal the four-set win by a 25-23 margin.

St. Olaf 3, Dubuque 2 | Box Score

In its third match of the weekend, St. Olaf outlasted Dubuque by a 25-18, 21-25, 25-20, 25-27, 15-11 margin to claim its second win of the season. Moore tallied a match- and career-high 20 kills and hit .286 for the Oles, who hit .292 as a team in the decisive fifth set.

In addition to Moore's 20-kill performance, Lannom had a season-high 14 kills while Caille and Gully had 10 apiece. Gray and first year Waverly Thao both had double-doubles, with Gray tallying season highs in assists (35) and digs (13) and Thao recording 20 assists and 10 digs. Rodriguez added seven assists to her season-high-tying 24 digs.

St. Olaf held Dubuque to a -.045 attack percentage in the opening set thanks to four blocks in the opener. The Oles trailed 9-3 early before fighting back to take a 16-13 lead after a 13-4 run. The Spartans closed to within a point, 17-16, before Lannom had a kill and an ace on consecutive points to help St. Olaf eventually see out the set, 25-18.

Moore had five kills in the second set but it wasn't enough, as Dubuque evened the match at a set apiece. The Oles opened up a 10-4 lead early in the set, but the Spartans broke an 18-18 tie by winning three-straight points as part of a decisive late push in the set.

St. Olaf held Dubuque to just five kills and had 15 of its own in the third to on its way to taking a two-sets-to-one lead. A 14-11 lead for the Spartans was the largest lead of the set until the Oles won the final four points of the set, two on kills by Lannom, after leading 21-20.

Similarly, neither team led by more than three points in the fourth set, which featured nine ties and five lead changes. Late in the set, St. Olaf fended off two set points on kills by Caille and Lannom when trailing 24-22 and had a match point of its own at 25-24, but Dubuque won the final three points of the set to send the match to a decider. Moore and Lannom combined for 11 kills in the set for the Oles.

Early in the fifth, St. Olaf raced out to a 7-2 lead after winning five points in a row on Thao's serve. The Oles led by as many as seven, 13-6, and eventually closed out the match on Moore's 20th kill of the evening after the Spartans closed the gap to three.

Next weekend, St. Olaf heads to Dubuque, Iowa for three more matches, beginning with a match against nationally-ranked Carthage (5 p.m.) and a rematch with Dubuque (7 p.m.) on Friday, Sept. 17.