ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team won its third match in a row by hitting 12 aces in a 31-29, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) road victory against St. Catherine University on Friday evening at Butler Center.

After each team picked up a two-point set win in the first two sets, St. Olaf (9-9, 2-1 MIAC) hit .320 and recorded 10 of its 12 aces over the final two sets to pick up the four-set win over St. Kate's (11-6, 2-2 MIAC). The Oles' 12 aces were one shy of their season high and marked the fifth time St. Olaf has reached double figures in a match this season.

Senior Christina Cheng had five of St. Olaf's 12 aces and added a match-high 18 digs in the win. Fifth-year senior and junior Anysia Caille led a balanced offensive attack for the Oles with 10 kills apiece and both hit over .350 on the night. Five Oles had between seven and 10 kills, as junior Catherine Moore had nine, senior Nicole Banitt added eight, and sophomore Maycie Rogers tallied seven.

Senior Selena Rodriguez entered the match needing 10 digs to reach the 1,000-dig milestone for her career and finished the match with nine digs, six assists and two aces. First year Paige Christophersen registered 23 assists and seven digs, while classmate Taylin Gosch handed out 15 assists to go with five digs.

St. Olaf won the first four points of the match and held the lead the entire set until St. Kate's rallied from a 19-14 deficit to take a 25-24 lead late on. The Oles stayed alive in the set thanks to a service error and saved two more set points on an attack error by the Wildcats at 27-26 and a kill by Cheng at 28-27. Trailing 29-28, St. Olaf got two kills from Lannom on either side of one from Caille to grab the opener in extra points, 31-29.

The second set was almost the mirror image of the first set, as the Wildcats raced out to an early lead at 8-1 but were forced to hang on late to even the match at a set apiece. Trailing 19-12, St. Olaf won seven of the next eight points to get within one at 20-19 but could get no closer, as St. Kate's got five sideouts in a row to win the set.

Cheng recorded three of her five aces in the match in the third set, as the Oles used an 11-3 stretch midway through the set to take a comfortable 20-12 lead on their way to a 25-15 set win. The Wildcats had five service errors and no aces in the set.

St. Olaf finished off the four-set win by hitting six aces and posting a match-high .375 attack percentage in the final set of the night. With the score even at 13-13, the Oles rattled off four points in a row, including two aces by Cheng, to build a four-point cushion. St. Kate's stayed within touching distance at 20-17 before St. Olaf won the final five points of the match, with Rodriguez logging a pair of aces in the 5-0 run.

The Oles are right back at it on Saturday, Oct. 8 when No. 22-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College visits Skoglund Center for a 4 p.m. start on Youth Day. The Gusties remained unbeaten in MIAC play and handed No. 15-ranked Augsburg University its first conference loss with a four-set win in Minneapolis on Friday night.