ST. PAUL, Minn. – As the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team's late-season run progressed, a theme emerged for the team: coming from behind.
The team came from behind to defeat Augsburg in the MIAC semifinals, and then came back from a 2-1 deficit in the conference championship match to beat UST 3-2.
In the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday against UW-La Crosse, CSB's come-from-behind magic faltered. After overcoming a big deficit in the first set to win 25-23, Saint Benedict lost the next three and ended its season with a 3-1 loss to the Eagles in the first round of the national tournament.
Saint Benedict ends the 2017 season 19-9 overall, a second-place finish in the MIAC regular season and a MIAC Tournament Championship under its belt. The conference title marked the first for the team since 2009, and the trip to the NCAA Tournament ended a one-year hiatus from the national scene for the team.
CSB was down 13-6 to start the first set Thursday, but used a kill from
Briana Schmiesing and several UWL attack errors to get within two, 14-12. La Crosse pushed its lead back to five, 20-15, and still led 23-20 late, but a kill from
Megan Pekarek and blocks from
Madison Weiss,
Hunter Weiss and
Liz Schultz tied the set at 23-23, and a kill from
Hunter Weiss and another block from
Madison Weiss and Schultz gave CSB the first-set win, 25-23.
That's where the comeback magic ended, however. After a back-and-forth start to Set 2, the Eagles (22-6) went up 15-12, and later pushed their lead to 20-15 before pulling away for the 25-17 win. La Crosse jumped to a 7-3 lead in the third set, and let CSB get within two at 7-5 thanks to a service aces by Schultz, but after that the closest CSB got was four points at 11-7 and 14-10 as the Eagles cruised to a 25-14 win.
UW-La Crosse took an early lead again in set four, going up as much as 11-3, and Saint Benedict never found its rhythm as its season ended with a 25-13 loss.
Madison Weiss finished with nine kills to lead CSB, which had 36 kills to the Eagles' 61. Schmiesing added eight kills and Pekarek had 29 assists, 11 digs and five kills.
Haley LaValle led the defense with 17 digs and Schultz added 12.
Madison Weiss and Schultz both had four block assists.
Kathryn Maas and Stephanie Henk – the WIAC Player of the Year – led the Eagles with 15 kills. Maddie Entinger had 51 assists and Halle Barnabo had 19 digs.
UWL moves on to play Northwestern – which swept Cornell Thursday – in the round of 32 Friday afternoon.
