Winona, Minn. - The Saint Benedict volleyball team capped a perfect weekend at the Saint Mary's Cardinal Invitational today (Oct. 5), winning 3-0 over Central and 3-1 over Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
The offense racked up 106 kills over the two matches, with
Lexi Rinde (Minnetonka, Minn.) leading the way with 32 on the day.
Lexi Alm (Forest Lake, Minn.) was right behind with 25.
The Blazers (17-2) topped the Dutch 25-19, 25-12, 25-17 in straight sets, and rebounded from a first-set loss against the Blugolds to win 19-25, 25-13, 25-8, 25-19.
With the two wins, the Blazers close the weekend a perfect 3-0, and improve to a perfect 14-0 in nonconference matches.
The win over the Dutch (6-16) was one of the Blazers most dominant of the season, posting 50 kills in just three sets, while limiting Central to just 25.
Rinde had a career high 19 kills in the match, hitting .517 to get there with just four errors on a season high 29 attacks. She breaks her previous match-high of 18, set on Nov. 9 last season, in the playoffs against Northwestern.
The Blazers also got 13 kills and a season high .524 attack2 percentage from Alm, while she added 13 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.
A match later, the Blazers lost the opening set for just the third time all season, but rebounded nicely, to win the next three sets for the victory over the Blugolds (11-11).
This time
Sophie Stangl (Buffalo, Minn.) led the way with 14 kills and a .367 mark at the net, leading three Blazers in double figures.
On defense, the Blazers racked up a 75 digs, their second best mark of the year, while posting 16 block assists to hold the Blugolds to a -.099 mark at the net, while included negative tallies in the second and third sets.
Chelsea Rachel led the defense with a season high 23 digs, while Stangl led with five block assists.
Rinde went over the 900 career kill mark on the day, with 903 now in her three seasons, while Alm moved into seventh place all-time at CSB with 1,180 in her four years.
Now winners of three straight, the Blazers will return to action - and to MIAC play - back on the road on Wednesday (Oct. 9) at Bethel.
