NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team secured its fifth-straight berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs by sweeping Saint Mary's University (Minn.) by scores of 25-19, 25-13, 25-18 on Senior Night on Friday evening at Skoglund Center.

St. Olaf (14-12, 7-3 MIAC) entered the night needing one win from its final two matches to clinch a top-four seed in next week's MIAC Playoffs and took care of business with its third-straight sweep in the series with Saint Mary's (9-17, 2-8 MIAC). The Oles head into Saturday's regular-season finale needing a win to clinch the No. 2 seed.

Prior to the match, St. Olaf celebrated its senior class of Kaya Gendreau, Selena Rodriguez, Maddie Knupp, Nicole Banitt, and Katelyn Lannom, as well as senior manager Joe Linder. The class has helped the Oles to a 48-32 record and three appearances in the MIAC Playoffs, as well as one NCAA Tournament berth, in their careers.

St. Olaf used a balanced offensive attack to pick up the win, as four Oles at between seven and nine kills, led by Lannom's nine-kill evening, which moved the fifth-year senior up to 14th in program history with 1,067 kills for her career. Lannom also had two aces to move up to eighth in program history with 140 in her career and two blocks to take sole possession of seventh in program history with 302.

Rodriguez had 22 digs in the three-set match to rise to 16th in program history with 1,109 for her career. First year Morgan Ryan was also in double figures with 11 digs, while fellow first year Paige Christophersen recorded 19 assists, six digs, and three aces.

Five Oles had multiple kills to help St. Olaf grab the opening set by a 25-19 margin. Leading 8-7, the Oles went on a 6-0 run, including a pair of aces by Rodriguez, to open up a 14-7 advantage and led by at least five points for the remainder of the set.

St. Olaf hit .345 and held Saint Mary's to a -.031 clip to roll through the second set, 25-13. Christophersen registered back-to-back aces to end a 6-0 start to the set for the Oles, who never saw their lead dip below four points the rest of the set.

The Cardinals hung in the third set until St. Olaf won five-straight points to open up an 18-10 lead, as first year Tatum Sims capped the run with consecutive aces. Saint Mary's mounted a mini rally at the end of the set to cut a 23-12 deficit to 23-17 before the Oles finished off the victory.

St. Olaf heads across town to take on Carleton College to close out the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.