Morris, Minn. – The Saint Benedict volleyball team continued the strong start to its season today (Sept. 3), scoring a 3-0 win on the road over Minnesota Morris.

The No. 19 ranked Blazers ran their record to 5-0 on the season – their best start since the 2004 team opened up 8-0 – winning by set scores of 25-18, 25-22 and 26-24.  With the overtime third set, the Cougars' came the closest to taking a set from the Blazers this season, but instead CSB ran its streak to 15 consecutive set wins to open the year.

Lexi Alm led the way against the Cougars (3-3), charting her first double-double of the season with 13 kills and 14 digs in the three sets, each team bests. Sophie Stangl also hit double digits in kills for the first time on the season, finishing with 10. 

The Blazers knocked down 43 total kills as a team, their second best mark of the season, while holding the Cougars to 32, the fewest they've totaled all year. On the night UMM finished without anyone tallying over eight kills.

Kelly Davenport and Chelsea Rachel finished with 12 and 11 digs respectively, while Taya Kockelman just missed her fourth straight 30-assist match to open the season, handing out 29 on the night. 

The Blazers may have gotten away without a set loss, but the Cougars made them work for it, as the match featured 20 tie scores and 12 total lead changes.

In the second set, the Cougars led 13-12 at the midway point, and it took a run of five-out-of-six points for the Blazers to take control of the set.

Then, in the third the Cougars used a run of four straight points to take an 18-17 lead, with the streak snapped only by their own service error. The Blazers took advantage and went out to a 23-20 lead, only to see the Cougars come storming back with four straight points to take a 24-23 lead on the verge of extending the match.

From there though, the Blazers got Alm's 13th kill at the perfect time, before Stangl won the match two points later with her 10th of the night.

CSB now takes off Wednesday and Thursday before returning to tournament action on Friday (Sept. 6)  at the Whitworth Invitational in Spokane, Wash. where they take on St. Scholastica (2 p.m. CT) and Whitworth (7 p.m. CT). They then close the weekend with two more matches on Saturday (Sept. 7).