NORTHFIELD, Minn. – After losing four of its first five matches to start the season, the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team has turned its season around.
CSB swept Carleton College 3-0 Saturday afternoon, marking its fourth straight win. Saint Benedict beat the Knights 25-12, 26-24 and 25-17 in the MIAC match in Northfield, Minn.
The win marks the fourth straight and sixth in the last seven matches for CSB, which is 9-6 overall and 4-1 in the league. All six of those wins have been sweeps.
CSB's latest win came thanks to a team effort on offense as six different players had at least six kills. In the first set, Saint Benedict led 10-3, and pushed that lead to 10 at 17-7 thanks to kills from
Briana Schmiesing and
Madison Weiss. A pair of service aces by
Kalista Jager ended the match.
Set two was even until midway through the set when the Knights (4-8, 1-3) pulled away for a 16-12. Carleton led by as many as five, 21-16, late in the match, and again at 22-17, but kills from
Hunter Weiss and several Carleton attack errors got CSB back in the game, and a service ace by
Haley LaValle tied the score at 23-23. Kills from
Lauren Mathews and
Megan Pekarek ended the set in CSB's favor.
Saint Benedict jumped to a large lead again in the third set, and led by as many as eight, 11-3, early on. The Knights clawed back in and got within two on several occasions, including 14-12, but
Madison Weiss and
Liz Schultz had kills to help put some space between the two teams and help CSB pull away for the win.
Schultz and
Hunter Weiss led the team with nine kills each and Schmiesing added eight. Pekarek and
Madison Weiss each had seven kills and Mathews chipped in with three. Pekarek also had 36 assists and eight digs, and
Bridget McDonald led the team with 10 digs. LaValle and Schultz both added nine.
Lucy Stevens led Carleton with nine kills, Lauren Pak had 25 asissts and Katie Tritschler led the Knights' defense with nine digs.
CSB is on the road and out of MIAC play for a match Tuesday, Oct. 3, when it travels to Morris to take on Minnesota-Morris at 5 p.m. CSB returns home Friday, Oct. 6, when it hosts Bethel in the team's homecoming match.
