ST. JOSEPH, Minn. - The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team started the 2014 season with a pair of sweeps against WIAC opponents Friday afternoon at its Labor Day Tournament.
 
The Blazers started the season with a 3-0 victory over UW-Platteville, and ended the night with a three-game sweep of UW-Eau Claire.
 
In its first match of the day, CSB won the first set 25-21 before going into an extra-point thriller with the Pioneers. Neither team wanted to give in, but the Blazers persevered and came away with a 31-29 win to go up 2-0, and won the third set 25-21 to win the match.
 
Laura Schmitt finished with a team-high 10 kills to pace the Blazers, who had 46 total kills. Sophie Stangl added nine kills and Lexi Rinde finished with eight. Taya Kockelman recorded 36 assists to help run the Blazer offense, and she also finished with seven digs. Victoria Nass had a team-high 17 digs and Meghan Koop finished with 14 digs. Schmitt chipped in with 12 digs.
 
The Blazers (2-0) came out strong in the second match of the day and beat Eau Claire 25-14 in the first set. St. Ben's completed the sweep with 25-17 and 25-20 wins against the Blugolds.
 
Mary Franz finished with eight kills to lead the Blazer, who had 42 total kills. Kockelman added seven kills and Koop finished with six. Kockelman also had 31 assist, and Nass paced the CSB defense with 18 digs. Schmitt chipped in with 15 digs and Kelly Davenport added 12.
 
St. Ben's kicks off day two of the tournament Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. match against UW-Stevens Point. That match will be a rematch of the NCAA Regional Semifinal game from 2013 where the Pointers, ranked No. 19 in the country, defeated the Blazers 3-1 to end CSB's season. Stevens Point is currently ranked third in NCAA Division III and the Blazers are No. 9. St. Ben's wraps up the tournament against Northwestern (Minn.) at 3 p.m. Saturday.
 
Stevens Point and Northwestern also went undefeated Friday. The Pointers beat Concordia 3-0 and then turned around to defeat Augsburg College 3-1. The Auggies defeated Platteville 3-1 in their first game of the day. Northwestern beat Eau Claire 3-0 and then defeated Concordia 3-2 in a five-set thriller. The Cobbers and Platteville both went 0-2.
 
Saturday's games start at 9 a.m. when Stevens Point takes on Platteville. The Pioneers play Concordia at 11 a.m. and Augsburg faces Northwestern on the second court, and then the Blazers take the court at 1 and 3 p.m. Concordia plays Eau Claire at 1 p.m. and Augsburg takes on the Blugolds at 3 p.m. to end the tournament.