NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team secured its ninth consecutive berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs by outlasting Saint Mary's University in five sets (25-18, 19-25, 26-28, 25-14, 15-13) on Friday night at Skoglund Center.
St. Olaf (20-7, 7-2 MIAC) punched its ticket back to the playoffs by rallying from an 11-9 deficit in the decider to down Saint Mary's (15-12, 4-5 MIAC). The playoff appearance will be the 19th in program history for the Oles, who have qualified every season from 2017 on.
Seniors
Lilah Van Scoyoc and
Maren Miller combined for 31 kills and a .429 hitting percentage to power St. Olaf offensively. Van Scoyoc had a match-high 16 kills and hit .341, while Miller tallied 15 kills on 22 swings while hitting .591. Miller was also in on eight of the Oles' 13 blocks in the win.
First year
Kaela Clerveaux stepped into one of the two setting roles for St. Olaf and handed out a match-high 25 assists to go with five digs and a team-high three aces. Senior
Michaela Dooley recorded 28 digs and an ace in the back row, while junior
Mehsa Krause (12) and sophomore
Lauren Welch (11) were also in double figures in digs.
St. Olaf grabbed the opening set by hitting .333 with 14 kills, led by Miller's five kills on seven swings. After trailing 8-4 early, the Oles used a 7-1 run to turn a 10-7 deficit into a 14-11 lead and another 7-1 run to extend their cushion to 21-14. Saint Mary's held St. Olaf to 1 .147 hitting percentage in the second set, winning it 25-19 to level the match at one set apiece.
In the third, the Oles overcame deficits of 17-11, 20-14, and 24-20 to extend the set to extra points before eventually falling by a 28-26 margin. St. Olaf won five consecutive points after facing the 24-20 deficit and had two set points of its own, but the Cardinals won four of the final five points to take the set.
The Oles rolled to a 25-14 win in set four by hitting .385 with 12 kills and just two errors, while limiting the Cardinals to a .067 clip. St. Olaf broke a 9-9 tie with a 8-0 run on Clerveaux's serve to take control. Clerveaux had two of the Oles' four aces in the fourth set.
Saint Mary's surged out to a 5-2 lead early in the decider and was still up three at 8-5 before St. Olaf won four points in a row to take the lead on another Clerveaux ace. The teams traded 3-0 runs from there and were tied at 13-13 before a kill by Miller and an attack error by the visitors gave the Oles the win.
St. Olaf will be in action at Augsburg University at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31.
