NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The second-seeded St. Olaf College volleyball team advanced to the championship match of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs for the first time since 2010 by defeating the third-seeded College of Saint Benedict in four sets, 25-17, 27-25, 17-25, 25-20, on Thursday night at Skoglund Center.

Senior Lauren Rewers recorded a career-high 28 kills and hit .339 in the match to power St. Olaf (26-4) to its second win of the season over nationally-ranked Saint Benedict (23-5), which was ranked No. 13 this week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. The senior helped the Oles register 74 kills and hit .273 in the match, compared to 42 kills and a .184 clip for the Bennies.

St. Olaf will travel to top-seeded and No. 15-ranked St. Thomas for Saturday night's championship after the Tommies rallied from a two-sets-to-none deficit to outlast fourth-seeded Augsburg in five sets, 22-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-15, 15-13, in Thursday night's other semifinal. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul on Saturday evening.

In addition to Rewers' career night which also included 10 digs, sophomore Katelyn Lannom (13), junior Summer Reid (11) and junior Morgan Marxer (10) reached double digits in kills, while junior Lexi Wall recorded 63 assists and 18 digs. Senior Emily Jarnigan produced the fourth 30-dig performance of her career with a match-high 30.

Wall's 63 assists were the most by a NCAA Division III player in a four-set match this season and gave her 1,346 for the season, which ranks 10th in program history. Jarnigan's 30 digs gave her 635 for the season, moving her into fourth on St. Olaf's all-time single-season list.

St. Olaf took the first set comfortably, 25-17, after hitting .282 and holding Saint Benedict to a -.032 clip. Three-straight attack errors by the Bennies prompted an early timeout by the visitors with the Oles up 10-6, and St. Olaf led by at least three the rest of the set. Five Oles had multiple kills in the opening set, as St. Olaf led by as many as nine at 24-15.

In the second, the Oles held four four-point advantages before the Bennies tied the set up at 16-16 with a 4-0 run. Out of a St. Olaf timeout, Saint Ben's made it a 7-1 run to take a 19-17 advantage. With the Oles down 21-19, St. Olaf went on a 5-1 run to bring up a pair of set points, but CSB saved them on kills by Hunter Weiss and Maurissa Isaacs before a kill by Madison Weiss gave the visitors a set point. Down a set point, the Oles called their second timeout and, after the stoppage, won the final three points of the set on kills by Rewers, who had 12 kills in the set, on either side of one from Lannom.

Trailing two sets to none, Saint Benedict won 12 points in a row early in the third set to take a commanding 13-2 lead. St. Olaf fought back with an 8-1 run of its own to get back within four, 14-10, but that was as close as the Oles would get, as the Bennies won the next three points to give themselves a seven-point cushion. Saint Benedict had just six kills in the set, compared to 14 for St. Olaf, but committed just two errors while the Oles had 12.

After Saint Ben's built a 9-7 lead in the fourth, St. Olaf went on a 4-0 run to take the lead and did not trail the rest of the way. The Bennies tied the set at 16-16 with back-to-back points, but Reid delivered two kills in a 3-0 spurt to prompt a CSB timeout. Rewers produced three kills in a four-point span after Saint Benedict got within a point, 19-18, to push the St. Olaf lead back to four, 22-18, and Marxer tallied kills on two of the last three points to close out the win. After being held to three kills in the third set, Rewers recorded nine in the fourth.

Saturday night's match will mark St. Olaf's sixth appearance in the MIAC Playoff title match, while St. Thomas will play for the title for the 11th time. The Oles own three MIAC Playoff titles (2000, 2002, 2010) and the Tommies have six (2005, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014).