ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team led two sets to none before Macalester College fought all the way back to claim a 17-25, 17-25, 25-14, 25-16, 16-14 victory in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Wednesday night at Leonard Center.

St. Olaf (6-9, 1-1 MIAC) hit .338 over the first two sets to win them comfortably but hit just .162 the rest of the way, as Macalester (10-5, 1-1 MIAC) rallied for its first win in the series since 2016. The Scots pulled out the five-set win by edging the Oles in the decider, which featured nine ties and four lead changes.

Junior Catherine Moore recorded a match-high 19 kills and hit .295 for St. Olaf, which finished the match hitting at a .240 clip. Junior Anysia Caille and senior Nicole Banitt added 10 kills apiece, while sophomore Maycie Rogers had a career-high nine kills in her first match of the season.

Senior Selena Rodriguez tallied a career-high 33 digs and added a season-high 10 assists for her first double-double of the season. First year Taylin Gosch also had a double-double with 18 assists and 13 digs, while classmate Paige Christophersen registered 27 assists and eight digs.

St. Olaf hit .438 and committed just one attack error on its way to winning the opening set, 25-17, as Moore and Banitt had four kills apiece in the set. The Oles never trailed in the set after opening up a 10-4 lead early on and led by at least two the rest of the way.

The second set was a similar story, as St. Olaf won the first five points of the set and led for the entirety of the set to go up two sets to none. Macalester got within 6-4 early on, but the Oles won the next nine points to build a commanding 15-4 advantage. Moore had seven kills in the set, while Rodriguez and senior Christina Cheng combined for 17 digs.

Macalester began its comeback by hitting .462 and committing just one attack error in the third set. The Scots used a 10-1 run to take a 14-8 lead in the middle of the set and pulled away at the end for a 25-14 set win. St. Olaf led 10-9 in the fourth set before Macalester won five-straight points to take the lead for good in the set and went on to force a decider.

In the fifth, the Scots surged out to a 7-4 lead, but the Oles responded by winning five of the next six points to take a 9-8 advantage on tree-straight kills by Banitt. St. Olaf held a 13-12 lead after consecutive kills by fifth-year senior Katelyn Lannom and Moore but won just one point the rest of the way. A kill by Rogers saved a match point with the Oles down 14-13, but Macalester won back-to-back points to break the 14-14 tie and claim the win.

St. Olaf looks to bounce back on Friday, Sept. 30 when the University of Dubuque visits Skoglund Center for a 7 p.m. match.