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'Prising Pipers: The Saint Benedict volleyball team heads to a surprising Hamline for the first of their final three matches of the season, serving it up at 7 p.m. in St. Paul. The Blazers enter on a seven-game winning streak and stand 21-2 overall on the season, and are in fourth place in the MIAC at 6-2 in conference play. The Pipers enter with a 15-11 overall mark, and are an even 4-4 in MIAC play.
 
About the Pipers: After a season-long three-match winning streak, the Pipers enter the match off a loss their last time out, falling in three to St. Thomas. They have MIAC wins over St. Olaf, Gustavus, Macalester and Bethel, and remain in the playoff hunt with three conference games left to play. Last season they went 18-12 but were just 1-10 in league action. Now, new head coach Becky Egan has the program on the rise. Sam Greeney-Hamlin leads the offense with a .349 hitting percentage, ranking fourth in the conference, while adding a team best 2.86 kills per set.
 
Last Year: In the second conference game of the season last year, the Blazers' scored a 3-0 win, holding the Pipers under 15 points in all three sets. They won the first set 25-10 and in the second set, held the Pipers to single digits, winning 25-8. They then finished off the match by winning the third set 25-14, to complete their domination on the night. Sophie Stangl (Buffalo, Minn.) led the offense with 13 kills and a hitting percentage of .619.
 
The Storyline: Can the Blazers continue their recent success when the go on the road? They just wrapped up a three-game home stand where they won all three matches by sweep, which including hitting .404 and .304 against MIAC opponents St. Olaf and Gustavus respectively. On the defensive side, they were equally as impressive, holding all three opponents to hitting percentages of .152 or less, and allowed fewer than 30 kills in each match. With a tight MIAC race, the Blazers will need to keep winning to keep any hope of a first round bye in the playoffs alive.
 
Who to Watch: Lexi Alm (Forest Lake, Minn.) is the reigning MIAC Hitter of the Week, after knocking down 28 kills in two matches last week, with a hitting percentage of .472. She had six serve aces, to raise her MIAC leading average to 0.64. Taya Kockelman continues to lead the NCAA in assists per set, raising her average back above the 12.00 mark last week to 12.07 this week. Alm's counterpart up front, Lexi Rinde (Minnetonka, Minn.) remains one of the top hitters in the MIAC and country, ranking fifth in the conference and 45^th nationally with a mark of .348, while ranking fourth in the MIAC with 3.61 kills per set.
 

Lexi Alm	Taya Kockelman	Lexi Rinde

Last Time Out: The Blazers won their 21st game of the season on Oct. 19, cruising to a three-set victory (25-20, 25-20, 25-15) over the Gustavus Adolphus Gusties. The win was Head Coach Nicole Hess' 150th career win, and her 86th at the helm for the Blazers, also guiding the Blazers to back-to-back 20-win seasons, for the first since 2007 and 2008. As a team the Blazers hit .304 in the match, the seventh time this season they have hit north of .300. They also had 51 kills, their second-highest kill total in a three-set match this year.