ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team completed a 2-1 showing at the season-opening WashU Bear Invite by sweeping Webster University by scores of 25-19, 25-23, and 25-11 on Saturday morning at the Washington University in St. Louis Field House.
St. Olaf (2-1) posted its highest attack percentage of the weekend by hitting .279, including hitting over .350 in the first and third sets, on its way to sweeping Webster (0-3) in the first meeting between the two programs. The Oles held the Gorlocks to attack percentages under .200 in all three sets and a .120 clip for the match.
Senior
Anysia Caille led St. Olaf with a match-high 11 kills, doing so on just 17 swings while hitting .588 in the win. First year
Lilah Van Scoyoc tallied 10 kills for the second match in a row, while seniors
Catherine Moore and
Erica Collin added nine and seven, respectively. First year
Skylar Fildew and sophomore
Paige Christophersen combined for 33 of the Oles' 43 assists in the match. Fifth-year senior
Selena Rodriguez recorded a match-best 16 digs to go with five assists and three service aces for the Oles, while Fildew hit three aces of her own.
After play concluded, Caille was named to the seven-member All-Tournament Team after collecting 33 kills and hitting .369 in St. Olaf's three matches in St. Louis. The senior added 11 total blocks as well.
Caille had six kills on seven errorless swings in the opening set to propel St. Olaf to a 25-19 set win. Moore and Van Scoyoc added four kills apiece, as the Oles hit .361 as a team in the set. Webster held a 17-15 lead toward the end of the set before St. Olaf won five-straight points – two on kills by Moore – as part of a 10-2 close to the set.
The Oles cooled off to a .075 clip offensively in the second set but still found a way to pull out the set, 25-23. St. Olaf led 12-8 midway through the set following a 7-0 run, but Webster used a 6-0 run of its own late on to take a 22-19 lead. The Oles finished off the set on a 6-1 run that included back-to-back aces by Fildew to go up by two sets.
In the third, St. Olaf closed out the win by tallying 18 kills and hitting .429, as six Oles had multiple kills in the set. Already leading 11-7, St. Olaf broke the set wide open by winning nine points in a row on Fildew's serve to open up a 20-7 cushion on its way to closing out the sweep.
The Oles head to UW-River Falls for their second tournament of the early season on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 8-9. St. Olaf begins the tournament by facing Martin Luther College on Friday at 5 p.m. before taking on Simpson College and the host Falcons the following day.