DUBUQUE, Iowa – The St. Olaf College volleyball team started the Loras Invitational with a four-set win (25-17, 13-25, 25-18, 26-24) over UW-River Falls before being swept (25-18, 25-15, 25-21) by the No. 23-ranked University of Dubuque on Friday evening at Stoltz Sports Center.

St. Olaf (4-5) started the day with a four-set victory over UW-River Falls (3-6) before falling to undefeated Dubuque (11-0) for the second time in as many weekends. The Spartans topped the Oles in five sets one week ago tonight in St. Paul.

On day two of the tournament, St. Olaf will take on Edgewood College (11 a.m.) and Loras College (1 p.m.) at Lillis Court on the Loras campus.

St. Olaf 3, UW-River Falls 1 | Box Score

After the teams split the first two sets, St. Olaf got its offense going over the final two sets, racking up 35 kills in the third and fourth sets to close out the four-set victory. The Oles had just 15 kills in the first two sets combined. St. Olaf hit .160 and held UW-River Falls to a .147 clip in the win.

Junior Lilah Van Scoyoc and sophomore Mehsa Krause led a balanced attack with 10 kills apiece for St. Olaf, which got nine kills from junior Maren Miller and six apiece from senior Dori Hobbie and sophomore Carlie Beckstrand. Junior Paige Christophersen tallied a double-double with 18 assists, 10 digs, and two aces, while senior Morgan Ryan was one of four Oles with double-digit digs with a match-high 27.

St. Olaf used a 6-0 run early in set one to take an 8-3 lead and led by at least five for the remainder of the set. The Oles ballooned their lead to eight at 14-6 midway through the set and won the set by that same margin, with Ryan making eight digs in the set.

UW-River Falls limited St. Olaf to five kills in the second set to even the match at a set apiece with a 25-13 set victory. The Oles responded in the third with 16 kills, led by five from Van Scoyoc and four from Miller. St. Olaf did not trail in the third and broke the set open with a 4-0 run that included two kills by Van Scoyoc to open up a 21-14 advantage.

Becktrand had five kills on 10 swings in the fifth set to help the Oles close out the match, as St. Olaf piled up 19 kills on the 26 points it won. Becktrand delivered back-to-back kills to start a 4-0 spurt that gave St. Olaf an 18-12 lead, but the Falcons rallied from a 22-17 deficit to tie the set at 23-23 and 24-24 before kills from Miller and Beckstrand wrapped up the win.

No. 23 Dubuque 3, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

Dubuque completed a regular-season sweep of St. Olaf by hitting .264 and holding the Oles to a .121 clip, led by 23 combined kills from Delainey Winkel and Ashley Glennon, who both tallied double-doubles for the hosts.

Beckstrand was the lone Ole in double figures in kills with 10 while hitting .286 on the outside. Ryan made 22 of St. Olaf's 45 digs in the loss. With 49 digs in the two matches, Ryan moved up two spots to sixth in program history with 1,533 for her career.

Glennon recorded seven kills in the opening set to lead the way for Dubuque, which led by just one at 12-11 midway through the set before going on an 11-2 run to build a 23-13 advantage. The Spartans never trailed in the second set and closed the set on a 7-1 run to take a two-set lead before overcoming a 19-18 deficit late in the third to finish the match on a 7-2 run.