CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The No. 21-ranked St. Olaf College volleyball team suffered a five-set loss to the University of Dubuque before sweeping host Coe College on day one of the Mabel Lee Invite on Friday at Kohawk Arena.
In a matchup of two teams that both appeared in the balloting of this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)-Taraflex Division III Women's Volleyball Poll, St. Olaf (7-2) dropped its opening match of the tournament to Dubuque (8-2) by a 22-25, 26-23, 26-22, 19-25, 15-11 margin. After the loss to the Spartans, who received votes in the national rankings this week, the Oles rebounded by sweeping Coe (3-7) in a 25-23, 25-15, 25-22 victory to finish the day.
On day two of the tournament, St. Olaf will face Hope College (10 a.m.), which also received votes nationally this week, and St. Norbert College (3 p.m.) on Saturday, Sept. 19.
Dubuque 3, No. 21 St. Olaf 2 | Box Score
Trailing two sets to one, St. Olaf forced a decider by winning the fourth set, but Dubuque had kills on 13 of its 15 points won in the fifth to close out the five-set victory. The Spartans recorded 13 kills with just three errors on 29 swings to hit .345 in the fifth, while the Oles hit just .133.
Junior
Mehsa Krause posted her third double-double of the season with a team-high 16 kills and 10 digs while hitting .333 for St. Olaf, which hit .220 as a team in the loss. Senior
Maren Miller added 14 kills and four block assists, while senior
Evelyn Kreft registered 12 kills. Senior
Michaela Dooley tallied 25 digs for her third consecutive match with at least 20 and added a pair of aces. Sophomore
Kailani Schroeder notched a double-double of 27 assists and 10 digs.
The Oles outhit the Spartans by a .220 to .207 difference in the match, but Dubuque held a 13-7 advantage in aces in the five-setter. Delainey Winkel, an AVCA First Team All-American and the AVCA Region IX Player of the Year last season, led Dubuque to the win with 29 kills and 13 digs while hitting an efficient .308.
Dubuque used a 5-0 run to take a 14-11 lead near the midway points of the opening set and held a 21-19 lead late on, but St. Olaf won six of the final seven points to snatch the set. The Oles hit .357 as a team and held the Spartans to a .143 clip in the opener, as Krause tallied six kills and Dooley made 11 digs in the set.
Two late kills from Winkel helped Dubuque take the second set behind a 4-2 close to the set that broke a 21-21 tie. The teams were also tied late on in the third set after the Oles evened the set at 22-22 with a 4-1 run, but the Spartans won four of the final five points to take a two-sets-to-one lead.
Miller exploded for seven kills out of the middle in the fourth set, as St. Olaf overcame a 12-7 deficit midway through to get the match to a decider. Dooley delivered a pair of aces in the decisive 6-0 run that turned a 16-14 Dubuque lead into a 20-16 St. Olaf advantage late on.
Winkel and Chloe Reiser had five kills apiece to power Dubuque to the win in the fifth set, as the Spartans held the Oles to just six kills and a .133 attack percentage. Dubuque broke a 4-4 tie by winning six of the next eight points and closed it out on Winkel's 29th kill of the match after St. Olaf fought off two match points.
St. Olaf 3, Coe 0 | Box Score
St. Olaf hit over .300 in all three sets and at a .333 clip for the match to sweep Coe for the first time in the 10 all-time meetings between the two programs. The Oles limited the Kohawks to a .126 attack percentage thanks, in part, to an 8-2 advantage in blocks in the win.
Kreft was the lone Ole in double figures in kills in the win with 10 for her third consecutive match with at least 10. Miller had kills on nine of her 14 swings to hit .571, while senior
Lilah Van Scoyoc tallied seven kills on 10 swings to hit .600. Krause and junior
Carlie Beckstrand had seven kills apiece as well. Dooley had a match-high 19 digs for the Oles defensively, while Schroeder and junior
Sophie Saxton combined for 37 of St. Olaf's 41 assists.
The Kohawks held a 13-7 lead midway through the opening set before the Oles won seven of the next eight points to force a 14-14 tie. Later, St. Olaf overcame a 20-16 deficit with a 6-1 run to take a 22-21 lead and closed out the opening set with the sixth kill of the set from Kreft.
After Coe hit .257 in the opening set, St. Olaf held the hosts to a .066 clip over the final two sets to complete the sweep. The Oles hit .393 and got multiple kills form five different hitters in the second set and got six kills on nine errorless swings from Miller in the third to finish off the Kohawks.
