EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team picked up a four-set victory over UW-Stout before being swept by No. 25-ranked UW-Eau Claire in a triangular on Saturday afternoon at McPhee Physical Education Center.

St. Olaf (17-8) started the day by claiming a 25-19, 25-23, 19-25, 25-18 victory against UW-Stout (11-11) for its fourth win in five matches. Later in the day, the Oles had set points in the opening set but could not close it out before falling 28-26, 25-17, 25-22 to nationally-ranked UW-Eau Claire (18-6).

With three matches remaining in the regular season and in pursuit of a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoff spot, St. Olaf will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 1 in a 6 p.m. start at Concordia-Moorhead.
St. Olaf 3, UW-Stout 1 | Box Score

St. Olaf used a balanced attack with four Oles with at least nine kills to get past UW-Stout in four sets. First year Mehsa Krause produced a team-high 12 kills, junior Holly Jelinek picked up 11, and sophomores Maren Miller and Lilah Van Scoyoc added nine apiece, as the Oles hit .241 as a team in the win.

Junior Paige Christophersen and sophomore Skylar Fildew combined for 48 assists on St. Olaf's 56 kills. Junior Morgan Ryan registered 21 digs and five assists, while Van Scoyoc was also in double figures in digs with 10.

St. Olaf hit an even .500 with 16 kills and two errors on its way to winning the opening set. The Oles broke a 12-12 tie by winning seven consecutive points, with Krause starting the run with three kills in a row and Miller providing two aces in the run. St. Olaf led by at least four the rest of the way and closed out the set on a kill by Christophersen.

In the second set, St. Olaf's offense cooled off to a .200 clip, but the Oles held the Blue Devils to a .162 attack percentage to win the set that included 11 ties and seven lead changes. After trailing 17-13, St. Olaf brought up four set points with a 24-20 lead, but UW-Stout saved three in a row to stay alive. With the Oles' lead reduced to one, Jelinek ended the set with a kill to put St. Olaf up 2-0.

The Blue Devils hit .310 and committed just two errors while winning the third set to force the match to a fourth set but hit -.024 in the fourth. St. Olaf put together a 6-1 run midway through the set to take a 15-10 lead and led by at least three the rest of the way to finish off the victory.

No. 25 UW-Eau Claire 3, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

In the final match of the triangular, St. Olaf and UW-Eau Claire both hit over .300, but the Blugolds saved three set points in the opening set and went on to sweep the Oles. UW-Eau Claire held a 7-2 advantage in aces over the three sets and got a combined 42 kills from Bailey Leeke, Abby Stanwood, and Mya Cinnamo in the win.

First year Carlie Beckstrand paced St. Olaf with 13 kills and hit .385, while Krause contributed 11 kills with a .429 attack percentage. Van Scoyoc and Jelinek combined for 17 kills, with Van Scoyoc generating nine and Jelinek eight. Christophersen handed out a team-high 24 assists, while Ryan racked up 20 digs and three assists.

St. Olaf got out to early leads of 5-1, 8-3, and 10-4 in set one and had two set points up 24-22 late on. UW-Eau Claire saved both with kills before Beckstrand gave the Oles another opportunity to close it out with a 25-24 edge. The Blugolds again stayed alive in the set and went on to win in 28-26 despite being outhit by a .298 to .229 margin.

Ryan had nine digs in the second set, but UW-Eau Claire committed just one attack error while hitting .344 to go up two sets to none. The two teams committed just two errors apiece in the third, but the Blugolds built a 15-9 lead midway through the set and held off the Oles late to complete the sweep. St. Olaf saved four match points after trailing 24-18 before the hosts wrapped it up.