ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team nearly completed a reverse sweep but fell a few points short in a 25-23, 25-15, 16-25, 19-25, 18-16 loss to Bethel University in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opener for both teams on Wednesday evening at the Robertson Center.

St. Olaf (10-4, 0-1 MIAC) fought back from dropping the first two sets to win the third and fourth to force a decider and held a 10-7 lead in the fifth, but Bethel (8-3, 1-0 MIAC) rallied before taking the fifth in extra points. The Oles, who played their fourth five-setter in a row, saved four match points before the Royals finished off the victory on their fifth opportunity.

Junior Morgan Ryan entered the night 39 digs shy of the 1,000 milestone for her career and joined the 1,000-dig club by making a career-high 42 digs in loss. Ryan was one of five Oles in double figures in digs in the match filled with long rallies. Sophomore Lilah Van Scoyoc notched her fourth double-double in a row with 16 kills and 17 digs.

First year Mehsa Krause provided a career-high 17 kills for St. Olaf and was the only other Ole in double digits on the night. Junior Paige Christophersen posted another double-double with 31 assists and 16 digs, while senior Kathryn Deist pitched in with 16 digs as well. The Oles had 11 aces and just two service errors but could not overcome hitting just .078 in the loss.

St. Olaf used a 5-0 run highlighted by two aces from Deist to take a 20-17 lead in set one, but Bethel won eight of the final 11 points to take the set that included 10 ties and eight lead changes. The Royals led wire-to-wire in the second set, hitting .317 and holding the Oles to a .000 clip to take a seemingly decisive 2-0 advantage.

In the third, St. Olaf began its comeback by limiting Bethel to a -.042 attack percentage in the set to win it 25-16. After trailing 4-0 early on, the Oles broke a 9-9 tie with a 10-3 run to take the lead for good. Ryan had 11 digs and St. Olaf got kills from seven different student-athletes in the set.

The fourth set was a similar story, as St. Olaf broke a 12-12 tie with a 9-2 spurt to open up a 21-14 lead. After trailing by as many as eight, Bethel got as close as five before the Oles closed out the set. In the decider, the Royals led 5-3 early, but St. Olaf gained a 10-7 lead with a 4-0 run around the change of ends.

Bethel responded by winning six of the next seven points to go up by two at 13-11 and led 14-12 before St. Olaf saved consecutive match points on kills by junior Holly Jelinek and Krause. Kills by Krause and Van Scoyoc fended off two more match points for the Oles before a kill and an attack error locked up the win for Bethel.

St. Olaf will host Hamline University in its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 4 p.m. at Skoglund Center.