ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team picked up a big road win Friday night, beating St. Olaf 3-1 in Northfield.
The win pushes CSB's winning streak to eight, and bumps the team's record to 21-5 overall and 8-0 in the MIAC. It also sets up a showdown with No. 10 Gustavus Saturday afternoon in St. Peter. The two teams head into the match undefeated and tied for first in the MIAC with three regular-season matches remaining.
Saint Benedict's 8-0 conference starts is its best since 2008. That year, CSB went 8-0 to start conference play, and the Gusties snapped the team's streak. Twenty-one overall wins is the most in a season for CSB since 2014 when the team finished the year 21-10. This marks Saint Benedict's 20
th 20-win season since 1985, and the fourth in head coach
Nicole Hess' tenure.
Friday's win didn't come easy for CSB as the Oles hung close in every set. Saint Benedict won by set scores of 25-22, 25-13, 20-25 and 25-22.
In the first set, it was the Oles (20-6, 4-4) who led much of the set, including 13-9 midway through.
Hunter Weiss had a pair of kills as part of a run to help CSB take a 14-13 lead, and from there the two teams battled back and forth. A trio of attack errors by St. Olaf put CSB up 22-19, and
Lauren Mathews had a kill and
Madison Weiss had a pair of kills to help give CSB the win.
After a close start to the second set, an Ole attack error and a kill from
Claire Westby sparked an 8-2 run to give CSB a 9-7 lead it would never give up. A trio of kills from
Liz Schultz and several St. Olaf attack errors pushed CSB's lead to 17-9, and a service ace from
Lauren Mathews and another Ole attack error eventually gave CSB the win and the 2-0 set lead.
A pair of blocks from
Madison Weiss and a solo block and a kill from Mathews helped CSB to an 8-5 lead to start the third set, but St. Olaf responded with a 13-3 run to go up 18-11. A kill from
Madison Weiss stopped the run, but The Oles pushed their lead to 23-15 before a pair of service aces from
Bridget McDonald and a kill from
Hunter Weiss helped get CSB back within striking distance. An kill ended the set in the Oles' favor, however.
St. Olaf looked like it was going to force a fifth set after taking a 13-9 lead in the fourth set, but
Madison Weiss had two kills,
Hunter Weiss had a solo block and a service ace by
Allison Roehl tied the set 14-14. The score was tied three more times before the Oles went on a small run to go up 20-17, but Schultz, Westby and Mathews had kills to get within 21-20, and CSB scored six of the next seven points – including kills from
Katie Koch and
Madison Weiss – to end the set, and the match.
Madison Weiss finished the night with 13 kills and six total blocks,
Hunter Weiss added 11 kills and five blocks and Mathews tallied 10 kills and six blocks. Koch had 42 assists, Schultz and
Haley LaValle both had 17 digs and McDonald added 15 digs for CSB, which had 15 team blocks to the Oles' five.
Lauren Rewers led all hitters with 20 kills for St. Olaf, which hit .114. Lexi Wall had 44 assists and 15 digs nad Haley Langeslag led the team with 20 digs.
CSB is back on the road Saturday when it heads to St. Peter for a 5 p.m. showdown with Gustavus. The Gusties head into the match on a 14-game winning streak while Saint Benedict has won its last eight matches.