RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team outlasted the University of Minnesota Morris by a 25-17, 25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 15-13 margin to open the Falcon Invite on Friday afternoon at Don Page Arena on the campus of UW-River Falls.

After only trailing once on its way to winning the first two sets, St. Olaf (2-2) dropped the next two sets before recovering to top Minnesota Morris (0-4) by the slimmest of margins in the decider. The victory was the fifth in a row in the series for the Oles and came in the first meeting between the two programs since 2019.

First year Carlie Beckstrand, sophomore Maren Miller, and sophomore Lilah Van Scoyoc were all in double figures in kills and combined for 44 of St. Olaf's 63 kills in the victory. Beckstrand recorded a career-high 17 kills, Miller added 14 on 22 swings to hit .545, and Van Scoyoc contributed 13. Junior Paige Christophersen logged her first double-double of the season with season highs in assists (30), digs (10), and aces (3), while sophomore Skylar Fildew tallied 23 assists, seven digs, and two aces.

Junior Morgan Ryan made a career-high 27 digs to lead the way defensively for the Oles, while senior Kathryn Deist was in double figures in digs for the second match in a row with a career-high 14.

St. Olaf never trailed in the opening set and held Minnesota Morris to a .111 attack percentage in a 25-17 set win. Miller tallied a pair of early kills to help the Oles to a 6-2 lead. St. Olaf lead by at least two the rest of the way, with Beckstrand, Miller, and Van Scoyoc finishing the set with three kills apiece.

The Cougars opened the second set by winning consecutive points to take their first lead of the match. Later, the teams were tied for the seventh time in the set before the Oles won four points in a row to break a 15-15 tie and take the lead for good. St. Olaf led by as many as six late in the set before Christophersen sealed it with an ace.

In the third, the Oles led 6-2 early and 21-20 late before the Cougars clawed back to win five of the final six points to stay alive. Minnesota Morris overcame deficits of 9-4 and 12-6 in the fourth set to extend the match to a fifth set.

Both teams hit over .400 and committed just one error apiece in the decider, which was decided on a service error on the final point. After trailing 3-0 early, St. Olaf took an 8-7 lead on the side switch and opened up a 13-10 cushion with a 4-1 run shortly thereafter. The Cougars got back within a point twice before sending a serve long to end the match. Beckstrand had kills on all five of her swings in the fifth for the Oles.

St. Olaf will face Simpson College (3 p.m.) and UW-River Falls (7 p.m.) on day two of the tournament on Saturday, Sept. 7.