ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team stormed back from a two-sets-to-none deficit to upset the fourth-ranked University of Northwestern (Minn.) by scores of 13-25, 14-25, 26-24, 25-15, 15-8 on Wednesday night at Ericksen Center.

After dropping the first two sets by more than 10 points, St. Olaf (14-7) claimed a tight third set to start its comeback before winning the fourth and fifth sets by comfortable margins to defeat Northwestern (19-3) for the second season in a row. The Eagles were also ranked No. 4 in the country by the American Volleyball Coaches Association when the Oles knocked them off in four sets at home on Oct. 5, 2022. Prior to last season's win, St. Olaf had not beaten a team ranked in the top four since a four-set victory against fourth-ranked Elmhurst College on Oct. 25, 2001.

The victory was St. Olaf's first reverse sweep since a 23-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18, 15-12 win over UW-Superior on Oct. 6, 2018, a string of 124 matches, and was the Oles' first five-set victory of the season. The loss snapped Northwestern's 32-match home winning streak that dated back to a five-set loss to seventh-ranked Wartburg College on Oct. 5, 2021 and ended the Eagles' 15-match winning streak. It was just Northwestern's sixth loss in its last 74 home matches going back to the start of the 2019 season.

St. Olaf used a balanced attack offensively to pick up the win, as five Oles had at least eight kills on the night. Junior Maycie Rogers led the way with 13 kills and 16 digs for her second double-double in the last three matches. First year Maren Miller added 11 kills while hitting .381 out of the middle, while senior Catherine Moore was also in double figures with 10 kills.

Sophomore Paige Christophersen recorded 26 assists and eight digs, while first year Skylar Fildew contributed 20 assists and five digs. Fifth-year senior Selena Rodriguez tallied a match-high 21 digs to bring her career total to 1,579 and move up to fourth in program history, passing Andrea Otteman '07, who had 1,568 from 2003-06.

Defensively, St. Olaf limited Northwestern to its second-lowest attack percentage of the season at .155. The Eagles held advantages of 10-2 in aces and 13-8 in total blocks but could not overcome the low attack percentage.

Northwestern eased to wins in the first two sets by hitting a combined .295 while limiting St. Olaf to a .064 clip. Abby Glanzer, who was the lone Eagle with double-digit kills in the match with a match-high 18, had nine kills on 14 errorless swings over the first two sets, as the Oles' only leads over the sets came in the first seven points of the second set.

The Eagles were within nine points of the victory in the third, leading 16-11 after an 8-1 run, but the Oles won the seven points to take an 18-16 lead. Senior Anysia Caille had four of her eight kills on the night in the run. Northwestern fought back to take a 22-20 lead before St. Olaf won the next four points to bring up a pair of set points, which the Eagles saved on back-to-back attack errors by the Oles. With the score tied at 24-24, Northwestern committed consecutive attack errors on the final two points to give the set to St. Olaf and prolong the match.

St. Olaf got five kills apiece from Rogers and first year Lilah Van Scoyoc and nine digs from Rodriguez in the fourth to push the match to a decider, as the Oles hit .289 in the set compared to .091 for the Eagles. St. Olaf broke a 6-6 tie with a 6-0 run to take the lead for good and led by as many as 12 in the 25-15 set win.

The Oles continued their momentum into the fifth set, starting the decider by getting out to leads of 5-1 and 9-2, as Miller delivered a pair of kills and an ace early on. From there, St. Olaf kept Northwestern at bay by not allowing the hosts to win more than two points in a row before closing it out on Miller's third kill of the set. The Oles had 10 kills on 13 errorless swings to hit .769 in the fifth set.

St. Olaf will put its 2-1 record against top-25 teams on the line when No. 20-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College visits Skoglund Center for a 7 p.m. match on Friday, Oct. 20. There will be a JV match beforehand at 5 p.m.