Minneapolis – The No. 7 Saint Benedict volleyball team came out very strong tonight (Nov. 7) against No. 13 ranked Augsburg. After Augsburg gave the CSB its first loss of the season by a 3-0 score in September, the Blazers pushed through to take a 3-1 win on the Auggies home court in the rematch tonight.
 
In the first set, the score stayed close all the way through starting with a 5-5 tie and staying within two points until the Auggies took a 21-18 lead. From there, the Auggies finished strong and took a 25-19 win. The second set started the same way and the Blazers held a slim 17-15 lead. The Blazers then powered through the end of the set to take a 25-19 win.
 
In the third, the Blazers jumped ahead to an early 5-2 lead and extended it until they held a solid 19-14 lead. The Blazers continued to further their lead and finished with a 25-16 win.
 
The fourth and final set once again started out with a close score as the Blazers held a 7-6 lead. After a 5-to-2 run, the Blazers kept a steady lead for the rest of the game finishing the night with a 25-21 win. CSB never trailed in the third and fourth sets.
 
The Blazers played some tough defense tonight holding the Auggies to a hitting percentage of under .160 in each of the last three sets. Victoria Nass (Faribault, Minn.) led the defensive charge with 19 digs while Lexi Alm (Stacy, Minn.) added another 18 and Kelly Davenport (Lakeville, Minn.) finished with 17 more. As a team, the Blazers finished with 82 digs, hich is only the third time this season that they topped the 80-mark. Mary Franz (Broomfield, Colo.) also racked up seven total blocks, with Chelsea Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn.) adding another three.
 
Alm led the offense with 16 kills and Lexi Rinde (Minnetonka, Minn.) finished with 11 more. Taya Kockelman (Minneota, Minn.) extended her MIAC lead in assists with 43 more and also racked up 15 digs on the night.
 
The Blazers now move on to the MIAC championship game and will face St. Thomas at 7 p.m., Saturday (Nov. 9) in St. Paul, Minn. With 12 straight wins, the Blazers will look to finish the season with a MIAC championship using their momentum to knock off the No. 4 Tommies before they look ahead to the NCAA National Tournament.