ST. PETER, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team's three-game winning streak ended Saturday afternoon when it lost 3-1 to Gustavus in a MIAC match in St. Peter, Minn.
Saint Benedict is now 12-11 overall and 5-4 and in fifth in the MIAC with two games left in the regular season. CSB is behind fourth-place Saint Mary's (6-3) and ahead of sixth-place Bethel (5-5).
Gustavus, which is second in the MIAC with an 8-1 conference mark, won the first two sets 25-21 and 25-23, but CSB forced a fourth set with a 25-22 win in the third set. The Gusties came out strong in the fourth set, however, and won 25-15.
The Gusties jumped to a 9-3 lead early in the first set, and CSB was never able to recover. Saint Benedict got within one, 11-10, on kills from
Lauren Mathews,
Cami Hoover and
Megan Pekarek and a service ace by
Emily Christian, but Gustavus pulled away again, going up 17-13 and later 21-17. A kill by
Meghan Koop and a bad set by Gusetavus made it 23-21, but the Gusties won the next two points.
The second set was close the whole way through, and CSB took a 23-22 lead on a kill by
Ashley Trustheim, but a par of Saint Benedict attack errors and a Gustavus service ace gave the Gusties the win and the 2-0 lead.
In the third set it was Saint Benedict who came out hot and took a 7-2 lead thanks to three kills from
Briana Schmiesing and two from
Liz Schultz. Gustavus tied the game at 7-7, but CSB regained the lead and never gave it up. CSB pushed its lead to seven, 21-15, and withheld a Gustavus rally to come away with the win.
The Gusties came back strong in the fourth set and took an 8-1 lead early. Gustavus pushed the lead to 10, 13-3, and never backed down to take the final set.
Schultz finished with 13 kills to lead CSB, which had 58 total kills. Schmiesing added 11 kills and Mathews finished with 10. Pekarek had 50 assists and 11 digs, and
Haley LaValle led the team with 25 digs. Trustheim (15) and Koop (13) also hit double digit digs.
CSB is at home once more this season when it hosts Augsburg, which leads the MIAC, at 7 p.m. Wednesday. CSB ends the regular season Saturday, Oct. 29, at Concordia.
