NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team picked up its 19th victory in its last 20 matches with a four-set (25-15, 19-25, 25-18, 25-16) non-conference win over Bethany Lutheran College on Senior Night on Wednesday evening at Skoglund Center.

After seeing its 18-match winning streak snapped by then-fourth-ranked UW-Eau Claire on Saturday, St. Olaf (23-7), which received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll for the seventh week in a row, got back in the win column and improved to 19-1 all-time against Bethany Lutheran (15-10) with the four-set victory. The Oles' 23 wins this season are the program's most since going 26-6 in 2019.

Prior to the match, St. Olaf honored its seven-member senior class of Paige Christophersen, Dori Hobbie, Liz Pederson, Cayla Chun, Holly Jelinek, Morgan Ryan, and Caitlin Lee, as well as their families, on the court. The seniors have helped the Oles to 79 wins so far in their careers, as well as four Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoff appearances, this season's MIAC regular-season title, and a 2019 NCAA Tournament berth.

On a night where 11 Oles had at least one kill, sophomore Mehsa Krause paced St. Olaf with a match-high 13 kills, 12 digs, and three aces, while classmate Carlie Beckstrand added 12 kills with a .391 attack percentage. Junior Evelyn Kreft was also in double figures with 10 kills, while Jelinek had nine and Pederson seven on their Senior Night.

Christophersen matched her career-high total with 37 assists, while Chun handed out 21, as St. Olaf hit .257 as a team, compared to .126 for Bethany Lutheran. Senior Morgan Ryan tallied 30 digs to pass Abby Slack '17 and move into second place on the Oles' all-time career digs list (1,995). Ryan's 677 digs this season are the fifth-highest total in recorded program history.

St. Olaf hit .500 and five Oles had multiple kills in the opening set, which St. Olaf took by a 25-15 margin. Already leading by three early, the Oles went on a 7-0 run to take a 14-4 lead and led by at least five for the remained of the set.

Lilly Mehrkens recorded six of her team-high 11 kills in the second set to help Bethany Lutheran even the match at a set apiece with a 25-19 set win. The Vikings were up just two at 19-17 late on before finishing the set on a 6-2 run.

Krause and Kreft tallied six kills apiece and Beckstrand added five, as the trio accounted for 17 of St. Olaf's 21 kills in the third set. The Oles surged out to a 12-2 lead early and held off a late rally by the Vikings, who got within 23-18 late before Krause and junior Maren Miller ended the set with back-to-back kills.

St. Olaf hit just .158 in the fourth but held Bethany Lutheran to a .000 clip to close out the match. The Vikings used a 6-0 run to turn a 12-7 deficit into a 13-12 advantage midway through the set, but the Oles countered with a 7-0 run of their own shortly thereafter to grab a 20-14 lead as part of a 12-2 close to the set and match.

On the final weekend of the regular season, St. Olaf will face UW-Superior (1:30 p.m.) and the College of St. Scholastica (6 p.m.) on the road on Saturday, Nov. 8. A win over the Saints in the second match of the day would secure an outright MIAC regular-season title for the Oles.