STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team recorded its third-straight sweep by dispatching Ripon College by scores of 25-21, 25-20, 25-17 to begin its weekend at the Pointers Invitational II on Friday evening at Quandt Fieldhouse.

St. Olaf (5-6) hit over .300 for the third time in the last three matches, recording a .313 attack percentage to sweep Ripon (8-9) in the second meeting between the two programs. After winning the first two sets, the Oles trailed 17-12 in the third set before winning the final 13 points of the match to complete the sweep.

First year Madison Gully and junior Nicole Banitt each registered a match-high 10 kills for St. Olaf, with Gully doing so on 15 errorless swings to hit .667. Banitt got her 10 kills with just two errors on 18 swings to hit .444. Senior Brynne Gray and first year Waverly Thao orchestrated the efficient offensive display with 19 and 18 assists, respectively.

Sophomore Kylie Reardon had all four of St. Olaf's service aces in the win and tallied 10 digs, while junior Selena Rodriguez had a match-high 11 digs. The Oles held the Red Hawks to a .143 attack percentage in the match.

After the score was tied at 8-8 early in the opening set, St. Olaf took control by winning five of the next six points to go ahead by four. The Oles led by at least three the rest of the way and took the opener by a 25-21 margin after six Oles had multiple kills in the set.

Early in the second, St. Olaf won seven points in a row – six on the serve of Rodriguez – to grab an 8-4 lead. Trailing 16-9, Ripon won six points in a row to get within one, but the Oles pushed their lead back to six, 23-17, later on by winning five consecutive points thanks to three kills from Gully. Gully had five kills on eight errorless swings in the set.

The Red Hawks jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third set and led by as many as six at 16-10, but would win just one point the rest of the way. Banitt had kills on three of the first four points of the closing 13-0 run for St. Olaf and had five kills without an error on six swings to help the Oles hit .343 in the set.

On day two of the tournament, St. Olaf will take on UW-Oshkosh at 10 a.m. and host UW-Stevens Point at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25.