BLOOMINGTON, ILL. – The fifth-seeded St. Olaf College volleyball team swept past the fourth-seeded University of Northwestern by scores of 28-26, 25-14, 25-15 in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship on Thursday at the Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University.

After falling to Northwestern (23-8) in five sets back on Sept. 6, St. Olaf (27-8) avenged the loss and claimed its first NCAA Tournament victory since a regional semifinal sweep of Whitworth University on Nov. 13, 2010. The match was the third meeting between the two programs in the NCAA Tournament, as the Oles added to their five-set first-round win in 2010 after the Eagles claimed a four-set first-round victory in 2019. The Oles' 27 victories this season are their most since a 31-5 season in 2010.

With the win, St. Olaf advanced to the regional semifinal and will face top-seeded, second-ranked, and host Illinois Wesleyan at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21. The Titans swept eighth-seeded Asbury University to complete a day of four sweeps on day one of the regional.

Junior Evelyn Kreft and sophomore Mehsa Krause carried the load offensively for St. Olaf, recording 31 kills with a combined attack percentage of .410. Kreft racked up 16 kills and hit .433, while Krause compiled 15 kills, eight digs, and three aces while hitting .387. Senior Paige Christophersen logged a double-double with 25 assists and 10 digs, while senior Morgan Ryan added 20 digs, nine assists, and an ace. The Oles hit .319 as a team while holding the Eagles to a .095 clip to earn the 13th NCAA Tournament win in program history.

St. Olaf hit .360 and got 15 combined kills from Krause and Kreft in the opening set but needed to rally from 19-12 down to win the set in extra points. The Eagles were within three points of the set with a 22-19 lead before the Oles won four of the next five points to even the set at 23-23. St. Olaf saved three set points – two on kills by Krause and another on a block by Krause and junior Maren Miller – before Kreft delivered kills on the final two points to give the Oles the set. St. Olaf had kills on 22 of its 28 points in the set, while Ryan made 11 digs defensively.

Like the first set, the second set included eight ties and five lead changes, but all of those ties and lead changes came in the first half of the set. After trailing 13-12, St. Olaf won 13 of the final 14 points of the set, including winning 12 points in a row, 11 of which came on Krause's serve. The Oles hit .355 in the set, compared to .045 for Northwestern.

St. Olaf surged out to a 7-1 lead in the third set and later used runs of 6-0 and 7-0 to bring up match points with a 24-7 cushion. Northwestern did not go quietly, however, saving eight match points in a row before Miller and senior Holly Jelinek combined on a block to close out the sweep. The Eagles hit -.121 with six kills and 10 errors in the final set.