Stevens Point Box Score | Northwestern Box Score

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team was looking to get the most out of its court time Saturday afternoon in the second day of the Labor Day Tournament.
 
The Blazers, who went 2-0 Friday at the tournament, played two five-set matches Saturday afternoon. Of those 10 sets, two went to extra points, and four of the 10 were decided by the minimum two points.
 
St. Ben's (2-2), which is ranked No. 9 in the NCAA Division III, started the day against No. 3 UW-Stevens Point in a rematch of the 2013 NCAA Regional Semifinal game. The Blazers played point-for-point with Stevens Point – which was the only team to go 4-0 at the tournament – but lost 3-2. In its final game of the weekend, CSB came up against a tough Northwestern (Minn.) squad. St. Ben's won the first two sets, but Northwestern fought back and won the last three to win 3-2.
 
The Blazers lost their first set against UWSP 25-16, but came back to defeat the Pointers 25-19, Stevens Point took a 2-1 lead with a 25-20 win in the third set, but the Blazers came back from a 23-20 deficit to defeat the Pointers 25-23 and tie the match at two sets each. The deciding set went back and forth, but the Pointers ultimately came away with a 15-13 win.
 
Laura Schmitt paced the Blazer offense with 16 kills. CSB and Stevens Point both had 60 total kills. Mary Franz added 13 and Lexi Rinde finished with 11 kills for St. Ben's. Setter Taya Kockelman, who was named to the all-tournament team, had 50 assists, and senior Victoria Nass fell a few digs shy of her own school record with 34 against the Pointers. Meghan Koop added 13 digs.
 
Less than 45 minutes after walking off the court against the Pointers, the Blazers were back on against the Eagles for another long match. St. Ben's took the first two sets 27-25 and 25-20, but Northwestern came back to win the next three 25-22, 30-28 and 15-7.
 
Schmitt paced the Blazer offense again, this time accumulating 23 kills. She also had 14 digs. Franz and Rinde both had nine kills, and Kockelman finished with another 50 assists and 14 digs. Nass added 25 more digs to her weekend total, Koop added 17 and Kelly Davenport chipped in with 15 digs. CSB had 62 total kills to Northwestern's 64.
 
The Pointers finished the weekend 4-0 after defeating UW-Platteville 3-0 earlier in the day. In other games Saturday, Platteville beat Concordia 3-0, Augsburg swept Northwestern 3-0, the Cobbers swept UW-Eau Claire 3-0 and the Blugolds came back and defeated Augsburg 3-0.
 
Pointer setter Alexis Hartman was named the tournament MVP. Teammate Krista Loos (OH) was named to the all-tournament team along with Kockelman, Platteville's Lidia Frias (MH), Augsburg's Ashley Peper (RS), Concordia's Olivia Wangensteen (OH), Eau Claire's Katrina Raskie (OH) and Northwestern's Lindsey Peterson (S).
 
The Blazers are back in action Saturday, Sept. 6, when they travel to Duluth, Minn., to take on St. Scholastica. CSB is at the UW-Oshkosh Tournament Sept. 12-13, and returns home Wednesday, Sept. 17, to host Macalester in its first MIAC game of the year.