Women's Volleyball | 10/28/2015
Live Stats/VideoST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team heads into its final away match of the regular season Wednesday, Oct. 28. The Blazers face off against Augsburg College in Minneapolis at 7 p.m. The Blazers are coming off a very close 3-2 loss Saturday to Gustavus, which still sits at No. 1 in the MIAC.
Heading into Wednesday's MIAC schedule, Gustavus has already secured at least a share of the conference title. The Gusties, Bethel and Saint Mary's are all locks for the postseason tournament. The Royals and Cardinals are tied for second with 7-2 records, and Concordia and CSB are tied for fourth with 6-3 conference marks. Augsburg is sixth at 5-4.
About the Auggies: The Auggies head into this matchup with a 19-7 record and a 5-4 conference record. After starting their season with a 3-2 record, the Auggies went on to take eight straight wins, including a 4-0 streak through the Augsburg College Invitational. The Auggies have gone 7-2 in their last nine games and have won four of their last five conference matches including a 3-0 win over St. Thomas and a 3-1 loss to Saint Mary's.
Last Year: Last season, the Blazers took 3-0 win over the No. 24 Auggies at home, which kicked off a very successful conference stretch. In the first set, the Blazers took a dominant 25-10 win. They then captured a 25-23 win in the second set, and finished the night with a 27-25 in a close third set.
Laura Schmitt led the offense with 14 kills and added 20 digs to her team's success.
Mary Franz also led the defense with three blocks.
The Storyline: The Blazers only have one more conference match after the Auggies and are sitting with a conference record of 6-3. They will be looking to use these last two matches to climb up in the MIAC rankings where they currently sit in a tie at No. 4. They will also be heading into their final match of the season to face against Concordia, who they will battle for the last playoff spot. A win today will help boost the Blazers in the right direction to finish their season with two more wins.
Who to Watch: Schmitt currently leads the Blazers with 329 kills and sits at fourth place in the MIAC with 3.54 kills per set.
Lauren Mathews also sits with 2.04 kills per set, and leads the Blazers with 0.86 blocks per set.
Megan Pekarek also leads the MIAC with 9.47 assists per set and
Meghan Koop sits with a team-high of 383 digs.
Last Time Out: In their last match, the Blazers suffered a 3-2 loss to Gustavus in one of their closest matches of the season. The Blazers started the night with a 25-23 win in the first set and followed up with a 25-21 win in the second set. From here, the Gusties came back to take a 25-21 win in the third set and a 25-22 win in the fourth set. In the fifth and final set, the two teams battled back and forth before the Gusties finished off with a 3-0 run to take a 15-12 win. Schmitt finished the night with 15 kills and 29 digs and Matthews added 13 kills and four blocks. Pekarek also finished the night with 48 assists and added 11 kills.
Briana Schmiesing totaled five blocks on the night and Koop finished with a career-high 30 digs.
