Winona, Minn. – The No. 12 Saint Benedict volleyball team took another stride towards the top of the MIAC tonight, (Sept. 27) with a 3-0 win over the Saint Mary's Cardinals. This win improves the Blazer's record to 14-1 with a 3-1 record in conference play. The Blazers have now won three straight MIAC matchups after losing their first MIAC game of the season to Augsburg.
 
The Blazers started the night out with a 25-19 win in the first set. The Cardinals (12-4, 1-2 MIAC) had a 15-12 lead before the Blazers went on an 11-to-2 run and took a 23-17 lead before locking up the win. In the second set, the two teams were tied at 4-4 until the Blazers used a 6-to-0 run to jump ahead. From there, the Blazers held on to their lead for the rest of the match and took a 25-21 win. The Blazers jumped out to an early lead in the third set with a 5-to-1 run to start the match. They continued to extend their lead to seven points with a score of 13-6. The Blazers kept at least a six point lead for the rest of the set to finish with a 25-19 win.
 
Mary Franz (Broomfield, Colo.) led the team offensively today, recording 11 kills and a hitting percentage of .458. Lexi Rinde (Minnetonka, Minn.) also added another 10 kills and finished with a .292 hitting percentage. Taya Kockelman (Minneota, Minn.) finished with 36 assists to add to her MIAC lead. Chelsea Rachel (Maple Lake, Minn.) and Lexi Alm (Forest Lake, Minn.) totaled 17 and 16 digs respectively to lead the Blazer's defense along with Sophie Stangl (Buffalo, Minn.) who gained five block assists.
 
As a team, the Blazers racked up 14 total block assists on the night, their second highest total of the season.
 
The 12th ranked Blazers will move on to play No. 3 St. Thomas next Wednesday (Oct. 2) at home in Claire Lynch Hall at 7 p.m. This will be the Blazers last MIAC game until the Saint Mary's Cardinal Invitation. After that, the Blazers have six MIAC matchups out of their last seven regular season games.