CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The St. Olaf College volleyball team suffered back-to-back sweeps at the hands of UW-Platteville and Cornell College on Saturday at the Mabel Lee Invite at Kohawk Arena.

In its opening match of the day, St. Olaf (3-4) came out on the wrong side of second and third sets that were decided by just two points apiece in a 25-19, 26-24, 25-23 loss to undefeated UW-Platteville (8-0). Later in the day, Cornell (4-3) held the Oles to a .009 attack percentage to claim a 25-13, 25-21, 25-22 win to close out the tournament.

UW-Platteville 3, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

Senior Christina Cheng reached double figures in kills for the fourth time this season with a team-high 10 for St. Olaf, but the Oles were unable to close out the second set after having two set points before eventually falling in three sets to the Pioneers. First-year Paige Christophersen added her second-straight double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs, while senior Selena Rodriguez tallied a team-high 12 digs.

UW-Platteville hit .351 on its way to winning the opening set by a 25-19 margin. The Pioneers never trailed in the set after winning the first five points of the match. The Oles got within three on three occasions late in the set but could get no closer.

St. Olaf held UW-Platteville to a -.026 attack percentage in the second set and jumped out to a 9-2 lead early on but could not finish off the set late on. Trailing 22-21, the Oles won three-straight points on kills by Cheng and fellow senior Nicole Banitt in addition to a block by the two seniors, but the Pioneers won the final four points to grab a two-sets-to-none lead.

Both teams hit over .300 in the third set and St. Olaf overcame a late 22-17 deficit to tie the set at 22-22 with a 5-0 run that included three kills by Cheng. A service error broke the Oles' run, as the Pioneers won back-to-back points to bring up match point. After a UW-Platteville service error prolonged the match, the Pioneers finished off the win with a kill.

Cornell 3, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

In St. Olaf's final match of the weekend, Cornell limited the Oles to an attack percentage of under .070 in all three sets and had 11 blocks over the three sets to pick up the win. The Rams raced out to early leads in all three sets, leading 7-1 in the first, 5-0 in the second, and 9-4 in the third.

Fifth-year senior Katelyn Lannom tallied a team-high nine kills for St. Olaf, while junior Catherine Moore had seven. Rodriguez continued her run of having double-digit digs in every match this season with a dozen to go with four aces.

Cornell hit .387 to ease its way to a 25-13 win in the opening set and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second. Down 6-1 in the second, St. Olaf won nine-straight points – four on aces by Rodriguez – to prompt a timeout by the Rams. Late in the set, Cornell broke a 19-19 tie by winning six of the final eight points to go up by two sets.

After trailing by as many as eight at 14-6, the Oles used a late push in the third to get within two points at 24-22, only for the Rams to close out the sweep with a kill on match point.

St. Olaf heads to the Bethel Invitational next weekend in Arden Hills. The Oles open up the tournament against Wartburg College on Friday, Sept. 16 at 4 p.m.