LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 24-ranked St. Olaf College volleyball team began the P-Wolf Invite by sweeping Gordon College by scores of 25-19, 25-16, 25-18 on Friday afternoon at Snyder Arena on the campus of Nebraska Wesleyan University.
In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, St. Olaf (4-1) won 12 consecutive points to overcome a 15-8 deficit in the opening set and went on to sweep Gordon (2-4). The Oles, who broke into the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 this week, hit .296 in the win and held the Fighting Scots to a .076 clip.
Senior
Lilah Van Scoyoc led the match with 11 kills and hit .292 in the win for the Oles. Senior
Maren Miller and junior
Mehsa Krause recorded seven kills apiece, with Miller doing so on 14 errorless swings to hit .500 out of the middle. Krause also had a match-high 19 digs to finish one shy of her career-high total.
Senior
Michaela Dooley joined Krause in double figures in digs with 16. St. Olaf also piled up 10 blocks as a team, led by six total blocks from sophomore
Zahara Johnson. Miller was also in on four blocks. Junior
Sophie Saxton tallied 23 assists, eight digs, two aces, and two kills from the setter spot.
Gordon built a 15-8 lead in the opening set to prompt a timeout by St. Olaf. After the stoppage, the Oles won the next 12 points during a stretch that saw Gordon use both of its timeouts. The 12-0 run was part of a 17-4 close to the set for St. Olaf, which got six kills from Van Scoyoc in the opener.
Early in the second, the Oles broke a 3-3 tie with a 4-0 run, that included three consecutive attack errors by the Fighting Scots, and led the rest of the way. St. Olaf broke the set open with a 6-0 run to open up an 18-9 advantage and outhit Gordon by a .310 to .029 margin in the set.
Like the first set, Gordon got out to a sizable lead in set three with a 12-6 advantage midway through, but the Oles won 11 of the next 12 points to grab a 17-13 lead on their way to finishing off the sweep. Sophomore
Anna Hedrick provided six of St. Olaf's 17 kills in the final set.
The Oles will match up with Whitworth University (11 a.m.) and Nebraska Wesleyan (1 p.m.) on day two of the tournament on Saturday, Sept. 12.
