NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team extended its winning streak to 16 matches and locked up a spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs with sweeps of St. Catherine University and UW-Stevens Point in a tri-match on Saturday at Skoglund Center.

St. Olaf (20-6, 8-0 MIAC) started the day by sweeping St. Catherine (9-14, 4-4 MIAC) by scores of 25-16, 25-17, 25-3 to clinch a playoff spot before posting a 25-22, 25-10, 25-17 win over UW-Stevens Point (15-13) to close out the day. The two victories pushed the Oles' winning streak to 16 matches for the program's longest streak since a run of 22 consecutive wins in 1994. St. Olaf also stayed unbeaten at home (11-0) this season with the back-to-back sweeps.

The Oles will travel to Winona on Friday, Oct. 31 for a 7 p.m. match at Saint Mary's University.

St. Olaf 3, St. Kate's 0 | Box Score

St. Olaf cruised past St. Kate's in the first match of the day, hitting .442 as a team in the win to clinch a spot in the MIAC Playoffs for the eighth season in a row. The Oles' .442 attack percentage was the program's highest mark since hitting .500 in a sweep of Carleton College on Nov. 1, 2019.

Junior Evelyn Kreft led three Oles in double figures in kills with a team-high 13, doing so on 19 swings to hit .632. Fellow junior Maren Miller added 10 kills on 15 swings out of the middle, while junior Lilah Van Scoyoc added 10 on 16 swings. Senior Paige Christophersen tallied 29 assists, five digs, and three aces on an afternoon that saw the setter record the 1,000th dig of her career after starting the day with 999.

In a match where St. Olaf's offense was the story, senior Morgan Ryan made 17 digs and delivered a pair of aces, while junior Michaela Dooley picked up nine digs. The Oles limited the Wildcats to a .088 attack percentage in the victory.

After St. Kate's won the opening point, St. Olaf won eight consecutive points – two on aces by Christophersen – to quickly open up a seven-point cushion. The Wildcats got within four on four occasions in the set, but that was as close as they got, as the Oles pulled away late for a 25-16 set win. St. Olaf hit .424 with 18 kills and four errors in the set.

The Oles hit at an even-higher mark in the second set, tallying 21 kills and four errors on 38 swings to hit .447 on their way to a two-set lead. St. Olaf started the set on a 6-0 run on Christophersen's serve and did not relinquish the lead. Kreft recorded six kills on eight errorless swings, while Ryan made nine digs in the middle set.

St. Olaf won the third set by a 25-3 margin by hitting .467 compared to -.500 for St. Kate's. The Oles had seven aces in the set as well, including four from sophomore Mehsa Krause in a string of 14 consecutive points that gave St. Olaf an 18-1 lead.

St. Olaf 3, UW-Stevens Point 0 | Box Score

Later in the evening, St. Olaf won a tight first set before recording more comfortable margins in the second and third sets to pick up its first-ever 3-0 victory over UW-Stevens Point. The Oles limited the Pointers to an attack percentage of .086 and got double-digit kill performances from Van Scoyoc and Kreft in the sweep.

Van Scoyoc was in double figures in kills for the seventh match in a row with 12 on 24 errorless swings to hit an even .500 on the night. Kreft added 11 kills on a .259 clip, while Miller and Krause pitched in with nine kills apiece.

Christophersen totaled 21 assists, seven digs, and four assists, while Ryan led the Oles defensively with 19 digs, four assists, and an ace. Krause narrowly missed out on a double-double while adding 11 digs to her nine kills.

Despite hitting under .150 in the set, St. Olaf tallied 16 kills on its way to winning the opening set, 25-22. UW-Stevens Point held a 9-8 lead in the early stages before the Oles won the next five points – and seven of the next eight – to take the lead for good. Miller and Krause tallied four kills apiece in the set.

St. Olaf eased to a 25-10 victory in the second set, as the Pointers had just two kills and nine errors to hit -.280 in the middle set. Meanwhile, the Oles hit at a .267 clip led by three kills apiece from Kreft, Miller, and Van Scoyoc. St. Olaf jumped out to a 5-1 lead on Christophersen's serve and never conceded the advantage in the set.

Van Scoyoc, Kreft, and Krause combined for 15 kills in the third set to help the Oles close out the sweep. After an early 3-3 tie, St. Olaf led the rest of the way, getting six kills from Van Scoyoc, five from Kreft, and four from Krause for 15 of its 17 kills in the set.