NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The third-seeded St. Olaf College volleyball team recovered from dropping the second set in extra points to down sixth-seeded Concordia-Moorhead by a 25-20, 26-28, 25-17, 25-16 score in the quarterfinals of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs on Monday night at Skoglund Center.

After St. Olaf (20-8) won the opening set, Concordia (15-14) came back from an eight-point deficit in the second set to even the match at a set apiece, but the Oles closed both the third and fourth sets strong to advance to the semifinals. St. Olaf's reward is a date with the second-seeded College of Saint Benedict in the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in St. Joseph.

The win was the 11th in the last 12 for head coach Emily Foster's team and sent the Oles to the semifinals for the fourth-straight year and the 12th time in the program's 14 appearances in the MIAC Playoffs.

St. Olaf registered kills on 67 of its 84 points in the victory and had 12 aces for its sixth match of the season with double-digit aces. Four Oles reached double figures in kills, as senior Catherine Moore had 17, senior Anysia Caille recorded 13, fifth-year senior Christina Cheng added 12, and first year Maren Miller collected 10. Cheng added 15 digs to her 12 kills for second double-double in a row.

Sophomore Paige Christophersen and first year Skylar Fildew orchestrated the offense with a combined 57 assists, as Christophersen had 33 to go with seven digs and Fildew picked up 24 assists and nine digs. Fifth-year senior Selena Rodriguez had half of St. Olaf's 12 aces to go with 21 digs, while sophomore Morgan Ryan made 14 digs.

In the opening set, five Oles had multiple kills and St. Olaf held Concordia to a .108 attack percentage in a 25-20 set win. The largest lead for either team was two points until St. Olaf went ahead 16-13 on a block by Cheng and senior Erica Collin, but the Cobbers won the next two points to get back within one. The Oles proceeded to win the next four points to open up a 21-16 advantage and led by at least three the rest of the way, closing out the second on consecutive kills by Miller and Moore.

St. Olaf broke a 7-7 tie with an 8-0 run that included seven-straight points with Rodriguez at the line to take a 15-7 lead in the second set before Concordia stormed back. Trailing 20-13, the Cobbers won seven of the next eight points to get within one at 21-20. The visitors saved set points to tie the set at 24-24, 25-25, and 26-26 before getting an attack error from St. Olaf and a kill by Kaia Lill to even the match at a set apiece. The Oles had 22 kills in the set, with Moore and Caille providing six apiece.

St. Olaf held Concordia to four kills and a -.037 attack percentage in the third set to reclaim a one-set advantage. The Oles never trailed in the set but the Cobbers were even at 15-15 – the lone tied score of the set – before St. Olaf won 10 of the final 12 points of the set to run away with it late. The Oles hit five aces in the set, with Cheng having two of the five.

Rodriguez delivered five aces in a row as part of a 6-0 run for St. Olaf in the fourth set that turned an 8-6 edge into a 14-6 cushion. Concordia hung around by using a 7-1 run to get within two at 16-14, but the Oles countered with a 7-1 run of their own to go back up by eight and, two points later, Fildew closed out the win with her lone kill of the evening.

St. Olaf's 20-win season is its fourth under Foster and its 24th in program history.