ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The sixth-seeded St. Olaf College volleyball team saw its season come to an end with a 14-25, 25-16, 33-31, 25-21 loss to third-seeded Bethel University in the quarterfinals of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs on Tuesday night at the Robertson Center.

After the teams traded lopsided wins in the first two sets, Bethel (20-8) won a marathon third set that included 16 ties, five lead changes, and nine combined set points saved before going on to top St. Olaf (19-10). With the win, the Royals will visit second-seeded St. Catherine University in the semifinals on Thursday evening in St. Paul.

The loss brought an end to the careers of Maycie Rogers and Kathryn Deist, the lone two seniors on St. Olaf's roster this season. Rogers and Deist helped the Oles to a 69-46 record, four MIAC Playoff appearances, and one NCAA Tournament appearance over their careers.

Playing without its starting middle, St. Olaf got a balanced offensive attack with four Oles in double figures in kills to hit .251 as a team, but Bethel hit even better at .278. Junior Holly Jelinek registered a career-high 15 kills while hitting .343, while first year Carlie Beckstrand tallied 15 kills while hitting .314. Sophomore Lilah Van Scoyoc and first year Mehsa Krause were both in double figures with 14 and 11 kills, respectively, with Krause posting a .391 attack percentage.

Sophomore Skylar Fildew and junior Paige Christophersen both compile ddouble-doubles, as Fildew had 28 assists and 10 digs and Christophersen added 25 assists and 12 digs. Christophersen also recorded St. Olaf's lone ace in the match. Junior Morgan Ryan made a match-high 32 digs, while Deist racked up 22 in her final collegiate match.

Jelinek stormed out of the gates with seven kills on 10 errorless swings in the opening set to lead an Oles' attack that hit .314 in the set. St. Olaf broke a 1-1 tie by winning four consecutive points and led for the rest of the set. The Oles opened up their biggest lead of the set at 16-5 with a 9-0 run and led by at least eight the rest of the way.

Grace Solberg led the Royals to a 25-16 win in set two with eight of her match-high 22 kills on the night. Bethel hit .282 and held St. Olaf to a .118 clip in the set to even the match at a set apiece.

In the third, Bethel led 18-13 past the midway point of the set and was up 22-19 before St. Olaf put together a 5-0 run to bring up two set points to take a 2-1 lead. The Royals saved the second set point with an ace and held set points of their own at 25-24, 26-25, and 27-26, but the Oles saved all three on kills by either Beckstrand or Krause.

Both teams had two more set points before the Royals broke a 31-31 tie with a St. Olaf service error and a solo block by Peyton Howie to take the set. All told, St. Olaf had four set points and Bethel had five before closing out the set.

Beckstrand carried the load offensively for St. Olaf in the fourth with seven kills on 11 swings, but no other Ole had more than two kills, as Bethel finished off the four-set victory. The Royals held leads of 12-4 and 21-12 before holding off a late rally by the Oles that saw St. Olaf get within three at 23-20. Bethel hit .432 with 17 kills and just one error in the set.

St. Olaf, which posted its eighth consecutive winning season in its first year under head coach Alicia Wood, is slated to return 21-of-23 members of this year's team next season.