CHICAGO, Ill. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team began its 2024 season by splitting a pair of three-set matches at the Rosalie Resch Invitational, sweeping Alma College before being swept by North Central College on Friday at Ratner Athletics Center on the campus of the University of Chicago.

St. Olaf (1-1) began the day by posting its highest attack percentage since late in the 2019 season on its way to a 25-17, 25-22, 25-13 victory over Alma (0-2). Later in the evening, the Oles were unable to get their offense going in a 25-17, 25-21, 25-18 defeat to North Central (2-0) in the first meeting between the two programs since 2007. The win over Alma gave first-year head coach Alicia Wood the first victory of her St. Olaf career.

The Oles will close out the season-opening tournament against the host UChicago on Saturday, August 31 at 3 p.m.

St. Olaf 3, Alma 0 | Box Score

Sophomore Maren Miller and first year Carlie Beckstrand led a balanced offensive attack with 10 kills apiece, while senior Maycie Rogers and sophomore Lilah Van Scoyoc added nine and seven, respectively, in the opener. St. Olaf hit .372 in the sweep for its highest team attack percentage in 95 matches since the Oles hit an even .500 in a sweep of Carleton College on Nov. 1, 2019.

St. Olaf registered attack percentages of at least .300 in each of the three sets while limiting Alma to a .082 clip for the match in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Defensively, junior Morgan Ryan tallied a match-high 18 digs while adding a match-high four aces and four assists. Junior Paige Christophersen and sophomore Skylar Fildew recorded 20 assists apiece in the win.

Beckstrand had five kills on eight swings in the opening set to lead five Oles with multiple kills early on. St. Olaf broke a 3-3 tie by winning six of the next seven points to open up a 9-4 advantage and later used a 7-0 run to take its largest lead of the set at 17-7. Ryan delivered three consecutive aces during the 7-0 run in the eventual 25-17 set win.

Six Oles had between two and four kills apiece in the second set, but St. Olaf had to hold off Alma late by a 25-22 margin. The Oles held a 17-9 lead towards the end of the set before the Scots climbed to within one at 21-20. Van Scoyoc provided kills to twice prevent Alma from potentially pulling even before Rogers and Beckstrand registered kills on the final two points of the set.

St. Olaf had 16 kills and just two errors to hit an even .500 as a team in the third set on its way to closing out the sweep. First year Mehsa Krause tallied back-to-back kills to cap a 7-1 run early in the set that put the Oles up 8-2. Alma did not get closer than five points the rest of the way, as St. Olaf led by as many as the final margin of 12.

North Central 3, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

In the second match of the day for both teams, North Central outhit St. Olaf by a .250-.147 margin to sweep the Oles in the second meeting between the two programs. Abby Barickman and Amber Vande Hei combined for 23 kills to power the Cardinals to the win.

Van Scoyoc paced St. Olaf with nine kills on 24 errorless swings to hit .375 and fell just one dig shy of her second collegiate double-double with nine digs. Krause added eight kills in the loss, while Ryan led the Oles with 11 digs.

St. Olaf led 9-7 early in the first set after a back-and-forth start, but North Central won the next five points to take the lead for good. The Oles were within reach trailing 19-16 before the Cardinals took six of the final seven points to claim a 25-17 win in the opener thanks, in part, to five kills from Vande Hei.

North Central surged out to a 9-2 lead early in the second set and led by as many as eight at 17-9 before St. Olaf stormed back to tie the set at 19-19, 20-20, and 21-21. After a kill by Van Scoyoc evened the set for the fourth time, the Cardinals won the final four points of the set to take a two-sets-to-none advantage.

After hitting under .100 over the first two sets, the Oles raised their attack percentage to .281 and committed just three errors in the third set, but North Central hit .371 with 17 kills to close out the sweep. Already leading 10-9, the Cardinals opened up their largest lead of the set at the time at 14-9 with a quick 4-0 run, but St. Olaf hung around by getting back within three at 20-17. North Central proceeded to claim five of the final six points to wrap up the match.