ROSEVILLE, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team picked up its first win of the year Saturday afternoon at the Northwestern Tournament in Roseville, Minn.
 
CSB started the day with a 3-2 loss to No. 25 Coe College, but bounced back to defeat Loras 3-1. CSB is now 1-2 overall.
 
Loras won the first set 25-21 in CSB's second match of the day, but the Blazers came back to win the next three sets, including a 26-24 victory in set two. CSB won the next two sets 25-17 and 25-18.
 
Laura Schmitt and Mary Franz each finished with nine kills to lead CSB, which had 39 total kills. Meghan Koop added seven kills. Koop also led the team with 23 digs, Gabi Narvaez finished with 17 and Schmitt added 11. First year Lauren Mathews led the team with six block assists and Megan Pekarek had 29 assists.
 
In its first game of the day, Saint Benedict gave No. 25 Coe all it could handle. After dropping the first set 25-15, the Blazers settled in and won the next set 25-22 to tie the score 1-1. Coe won the third set 25-14 to go up 2-1, but CSB hung on for a 25-23 win in the fourth set to force a deciding fifth set. The Kohawks held on for a 15-12 win to win the match.
 
Schmitt led the Blazers with 15 kills against Coe and she also had 18 digs. Koop also had a double-double with 13 kills and a team-high 19 digs. Mathews added seven kills, Narvaez finished with 19 digs and Pekarek finished with 38 assists and 12 digs. Schmitt and Franz both had four block assists, and Mathews had a hand in three block assists and she also added two solo blocks.
 
Saint Benedict returns to its home court Tuesday, Sept. 8, when it hosts Minnesota-Morris at 7 p.m. in Claire Lynch Hall.