St. Joseph, Minn. -The Saint Benedict volleyball teams heads to St. Paul, Minn. today (Sept. 22), to play one of the best teams they'll face all year in seventh ranked St. Thomas.
The Tommies (13-1) started out their season going 8-0, and after falling 3-2 to Emory University, and have a five game win streak going.
The Blazers (12-3, 2-0 MIAC) have started this season out very strong as well. After starting out 7-3 and being ranked No. 18 in the country, the Blazers are on a six game win streak including the recent sweep of Hamline last Wednesday.
“We dominated! It was awesome, a good game. We had good hitters, good passes, good sets so hopefully that carries over to the St. Thomas game,” said
Sophie Stangl, who was recently crowned Hitter of the Week in the MIAC. The sophomore has scored a hitting percentage of .619 twice in the last week.
“I think it will give us confidence and energy to just go out and play like we did today,” said junior
Lexi Alm, referring to the St. Thomas matchup.
“I'm really excited to play St. Thomas because they're a really good team and so are we and it's going to be a good battle,” said Stangl.
“It means a lot (starting 2-0 in the MIAC), we're super excited and just want the teams to keep coming at us!” Said Alm talking about the teams great start to the season.
The whole team has been dominating recently. They went 4-0 in the Simpson Invitational last week with two sweeps, only losing two sets throughout the whole tournament. In the match against Hamline University last Wednesday, the team set a season high with a hitting percentage of .388 and tied a season low with only six errors all match.
“It will help a lot, the momentum will hopefully carry over and we'll do well,” said Stangl about the team's recent play.
St. Thomas is also on a hot streak, remaining in the top-10 in the country and having been ranked in the top-25 in 85 of the last 86 polls.
It will surely be a great test as these two powers meet today. The Blazers have a lot to prove and will be looking for sweet revenge for their 3-1 loss to the Tommies last year.
After this weekend, the Blazers return home to face the University of Wisconsin-Superior on Tuesday (Sept. 25).
