ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – For the second time in as many years, the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team is headed to the MIAC Championship match.
Down 2-1 to St. Thomas Thursday in Claire Lynch, CSB bounced back to win the next two sets and hold off a furious Tommie rally in the fifth to claim a 3-2 win in a MIAC Semifinal. Saint Benedict, the second seed moves on to face top-seeded Gustavus at 7 p.m. Saturday in the conference championship match in St. Peter.
Thursday's win marks the fourth in the last six meetings between CSB and St. Thomas, and Saint Benedict's third straight win over UST. It is also CSB's second straight win over the Tommies in the conference playoffs.
After holding St. Thomas to just 13 points in the fourth set, CSB (24-6) took a 14-8 lead in the fifth and final set, and appeared to be well on its way to winning. The Tommies, however, had other ideas, and went on a five-point run to get within 14-13. But Saint Benedict hung strong, and after a rally that included several attack attempts by both teams,
Madison Weiss recorded her career-high 21
st kill to end the set and the match, and earn her team a spot in the conference finals.
St. Thomas won the first set 25-22, but CSB tied the match with a 25-16 win in the second set. UST went up 2-1 thanks to a tight 25-23 win in set three, but CSB won 25-16 and 15-13 to seal the match. After CSB tied the first set at 21-21, the Tommies went on a 4-1 run to seal the win. CSB went up 5-1 in the second thanks to blocks from
Lauren Mathews and
Hunter Weiss and a service ace from
Haley LaValle. UST got within 9-8, but CSB went on another run and used kills from
Madison Weiss and Mathews and two straight UST attack errors to make it 15-10. CSB scored seven of the last nine point to pull away.
Set three was tight throughout, but CSB went on a 5-1 run to take a 20-16 lead. The Tommies responded with a 6-1 run to take a 22-21 lead before
Madison Weiss tied the set at 22-22. A UST service error tied the set again at 23, but a pair of kills gave the Tommies the win.
Saint Benedict jumped to a 5-1 lead again in Set 4, and led by as many as 17-7 to take control and force the fifth and final set, which ended up coming down to the final points.
Madison Weiss wasn't the only one to have a career night Thursday. Weiss had a career-high 21 kills,
Katie Koch finished with a career-high 50 assists,
Haley LaValle notched a career-best 36 digs and
Liz Schultz finished with 28 digs, a new career best.
Hunter Weiss and Mathews both notched 12 kills for CSB, which hit .249 as a team. Koch also had 16 digs, and
Madison Weiss had a team-high nine blocks. Mathews added eight and Schultz finished with five.
CSB finished the night with 17 blocks to St. Thomas' two, and held the Tommies to a .125 hitting percentage on the night. UST had 69 kills to CSB's 58, but had 39 errors to CSB's 10.
Madison Weiss hit .429 to lead CSB.
Julia Spacek had 19 kills to pace St. Thomas, which is now 25-8 overall, Katharine Mallak had 58 assists and Ellie Meyer had 28 digs.
CSB travels to Gustavus for the second time in the last two weeks Saturday for the conference title game. The Gusties also needed five sets to beat No. 5 Augsburg, which led the match 2-1 after the third set. This marks the first meeting between CSB and Gustavus in the conference championship match.
