DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball used strong finishes to all three sets to sweep the College of St. Scholastica by scores of 25-22, 25-22, 25-19 and spoil the Saints' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) debut on Wednesday evening at Reif Gymnasium.

St. Olaf (4-6, 1-0 MIAC) picked up a win in its conference opener by winning the final three points of the first set, three of the final four points of the second set, and seven of the last nine points of the match. St. Scholastica (0-4, 0-1 MIAC) was playing its first match as a member of the MIAC after joining the conference prior to the start of the 2021-22 academic year.

Junior Selena Rodriguez had a match-high 24 digs and added seven assists while helping the Oles hold the Saints to a .136 attack percentage in the match. Senior Brynne Gray added her seventh double-double of the season with 22 assists and 11 digs.

St. Olaf hit .262 as a team in the match, including .365 over the final two sets after hitting .067 in the opening set. First year Madison Gully reached double figures in kills for the fourth time this season with a match-high 13 and hit .393 to lead the way for the Oles. Sophomore Catherine Moore added 12 kills for her sixth match this season with at least 10 kills.

The first set featured 13 ties and seven lead changes before St. Olaf grabbed it late on by winning the final three points of the set. After St. Scholastica held a 19-17 lead, the Oles won five of the next six points to go ahead by two, 22-20, only for the Saints to tie it up by winning the next two points. Senior Katelyn Lannom broke the tie with a kill before an attack error gave St. Olaf a pair of set points. The Oles only needed one, however, as Moore ended the set with a kill.

St. Olaf lead 10-6 early in the second set and led by as many as five at 16-11 before St. Scholastica climbed to within one at 18-17. With the Oles still clinging to a one-point lead at 23-22, an attack error by the Saints gave St. Olaf a set point, which the Oles capitalized on with Gully's sixth kill of the set to take a two-sets-to-none lead. Rodriguez had 12 of her 24 digs in the match in set two.

In the third, St. Olaf hit .457 as a team with 18 kills and juts two attack errors on its way to closing out the sweep. Like the first set, the third was tied on 13 occasions with the last tie coming at 18-18. With the score knotted at 18, the Oles won five points in a row to grab a comfortable lead. The 5-0 run was part of a 7-2 close to the match that included two kills and a block by junior Nicole Banitt, who had four kills on six swings in the set.

St. Olaf heads to Stevens Point, Wis. this weekend for the Pointers Invitational II. The Oles open the tournament against Ripon on Friday, Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. before taking on UW-Oshkosh (10 a.m.) and UW-Stevens Point (2 p.m.) the following day.