ST. PAUL, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team looked like it had cracked the code that is St. Thomas Thursday night in a MIAC semifinal match in St. Paul, Minn.
 
The Blazers led the Tommies at least once in all four sets the two teams played Thursday, and came back from an 8-1 deficit to take a lead in the fourth set, but ultimately fell 3-1 to end their run at the MIAC championship title.
 
Saint Benedict is now 21-9 overall and awaits its region tournament fate. Brackets for the tournament will be announced the morning of Monday, Nov. 10. St. Thomas moves on to the conference championship game where it takes on Augsburg Saturday in Minneapolis, Minn.
 
The Blazers, the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, came out strong and hung with St. Thomas the entire first set. Saint Benedict led 10-6 after a service aces by Meghan Koop, and later pushed its lead to 13-8 thanks to a kill by Lexi Rinde. The Tommies fought back and tied the score at 14 and again at 17 before the Blazers went up 20-18 on a kill by Taya Kockelman. From there, however, the Tommies scored seven of the next eight points to win 25-21.
 
Saint Benedict got down 6-2 early in the second set, but Kelly Davenport scored nine straight points to put the Blazers up 11-6. Two kills by Mary Franz, one from Laura Schmitt and another service ace by Koop put CSB up 10, 18-8, and from there the Blazer offense cruised to the 25-15 win.
 
Set three was back and forth, with the Blazers going up 7-4 on a kill by Schmitt and again 13-10 on a Tommie attack error, but St. Thomas tied the game at 15, and 17, and went up 21-18 on a kill by Taylor Lewis. Another St. Thomas attack error made it a one-point game, 21-20, and later a kill by Kockleman got the Blazers within one again, 23-22, but a CSB attack error gave UST a 24-22 advantage. Sophie Stangl got a kill to make it a one-point game one last time at 24-23, but another Blazer attack error gave St. Thomas the win and the 2-1 advantage.
 
The Tommies went on an 8-1 run to start the fourth set, and pushed their lead to 11-3 on a Saint Benedict service error, but CSB started to slowly claw its way back into the match. A kill from Rinde made it 15-9, and Victoria Nass served six straight points assisted by kills from Franz and Rinde and four UST attack erros to make it a 17-15 match. A kill from Stangl tied it at 17, and another Stangl kill put CSB up 20-17, but the Tommies tied the match at 20 and used a trio of kills from Jill Greenfield to hold on for a 25-21 win.
 
Stangl finished with 15 kills to pace Saint Benedict, which had 56 total kills. Rinde added 13 and Schmitt had nine. Schmitt and Victoria Nass each had 27 digs and Kelly Davenport added 15, and Kockelman finished with 41 assists, eight digs and seven kills.
 
Greenfield had 14 kills and 18 digs for UST and Kelly Foley finished with 10 kills. Whitney Abrahamson had 25 digs and Kayla Walton finished with 21 assists.