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The No. 12 Saint Benedict volleyball team is hitting the road Sept. 27 to Winona, Minn. where they will face off against Saint Mary's at 7 p.m. This will be the Blazers fourth consecutive MIAC game and they are looking for their third straight conference win, sitting at 13-1 overall and 2-1 in MIAC play. After the Cardinals, the Blazers will play No. 3 St. Thomas in one of the most anticipated match-ups of the year.
About the Cardinals: The Cardinals are currently standing sixth in the MIAC with a record of 1-1 in the early conference season. At 12-3 overall they are already just two wins shy of last year's total, and have only one loss since the Ground Round Sugar Loaf Classic, which were their first games of the season. This one loss came just two days ago to Macalester College by a score of 3-1. They won their MIAC opener, 3-1 over Bethel. The Cardinals are looking for another win to regain their momentum after their 11-game winning streak came to an end.
The Storyline: Both the Blazers and the Cardinals are looking for another MIAC win to start a momentum swing as they go into mostly conference play for the rest of the season. Both had early season winning streaks through nonconference play that were halted in the early MIAC season.
Who to Watch:
Taya Kockelman (Minneota, Minn.) is still standing in the No. 1 spot in the MIAC with 12.02 assists per set and
Lexi Rinde (Minnetonka, Minn.) is second in the MIAC in hitting percentage with a .392 mark. Rinde also leads the team with 140 kills with
Lexi Alm (Forest Lake, Minn.) in second adding 129. Alm and
Chelsea Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn.) are also both in the top five in the MIAC in service aces per set, Alm with 0.53 and Rachel with a 0.49 percentage. Rachel also leads the team defensively with 143 digs this season and
Victoria Nass (Faribault, Minn.) adds another 120 with 4.62 digs per set.
Last Time Out: In their last game, the Blazers fought off the Carleton Knights and added another sweep to their season. In both of the first two sets, the Blazers took 25-21 wins, but after 12-2 and 6-0 runs in the third, walked away with a 25-14 win. Rinde totaled 14 kills on the night and
Mary Franz (Broomfield, Colo.) and
Sophie Stangl (Buffalo, Minn.) both added eight more. Kockelman also broke the 40 assists mark for the fourth time this season to continue her domination at the setter position.
