Region Tournament Website

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament.
 
By virtue of an at-large bid to the 2018 tournament, CSB is back in the tournament for the second straight season, and the seventh time in the past eight years. When Saint Benedict heads to St. Peter to take on Pacific Lutheran Friday in the first round of the region tournament, it has one goal: pick up a win and advance past the first round.
 
CSB – which takes on No. 16 Pacific Lutheran at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, in St. Peter on the Gustavus campus – looks to pick up its first win at the national tournament since 2013. After making the Sweet 16 in 2012, CSB went 1-1 at the 2013 tournament, and is winless in the first round since. This marks the 20^th trip to nationals in program history for Saint Benedict, which is 16-19 at the national stage.
 
The Lutes are also no stranger to the NCAA Tournament. This marks PLU's second straight tournament appearance, and sixth in the past eight seasons. Pacific Lutheran went 1-1 last year, with a win over Trinity before falling to Colorado College.
 
Pacific Lutheran heads into Friday's matchup 21-3 overall and on a seven-match winning streak after winning the Northwest Conference tournament title. The Lutes – who beat CSB 3-1 last season in Tacoma, Wash. – currently lead the nation with 2.7 blocks per set, while CSB is second with 2.6. Five different athletes have at least 100 kills for the Lutes, led by Mackenzie Harris' 194. Chloe Epker (167) and Danielle Skibiel (160) both have at least 160 kills. Pacific Lutheran is hitting .206 this season, while its opponents are hitting just .093.
 
A trio of setters run PLU's offense. Isabelle Zubrod leads the team with 370 assists, Ava Nelson has 235 and Emily Dulaney has 144. Harris also leads the team's defense at the net with 106 total blocks, and Skibiel has 85. Caylie Shiramizu has 383 digs to her name and Epker has 257.
 
Hunter Weiss and Madison Weiss lead CSB at the net both on offense and defense. Hunter has a team-high 382 kills while Madison is second with 326, and Madison leads the team – and the nation – with 175 blocks while Hunter has 127. Madison is currently 17 blocks away from the school record for blocks in a season. Both Liz Schultz (247) and Lauren Mathews (246) have at least 200 kills, and Claire Westby has 151. Katie Koch continues to run the team's offense and has 1,146 assists, and Haley LaValle (630) and Liz Schultz (460) lead the team in digs.
 
The winner of Friday's match takes on the winner of Gustavus and Morris at 4 p.m. Saturday in a region semifinal match. Gustavus – the host school – won the 2018 MIAC title, and Morris earned its first-ever tournament berth after winning the UMAC title. On the other side of the bracket, Augsburg takes on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – the defending national champion – at 12:30 p.m. Friday, and St. Thomas and UW-Eau Claire play in a rematch of an Oct. 27 game that the Tommies won 3-2.
 
Saturday's semifinal matches are at 1:30 and 4 p.m. at Gustavus, and the region championship match is at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11.