ST. PETER, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team finally got the monkey off its back.
 
For the first time since 2013, CSB won its first-round NCAA Tournament game Friday to advance to the Round of 32 at the St. Peter Regional. Saint Benedict beat No. 16 Pacific Lutheran 3-1 to advance to Saturday's regional semifinals where it will face the winner of Friday night's Gustavus/Morris first-round match.
 
This marks head coach Nicole Hess' fourth win at the national tournament. Her 2012 team went 2-1 to make the Sweet 16, and she went 1-1 at the 2013 tournament. Friday's win is also the first NCAA Tournament win for the team's three seniors Lauren Mathews, Allison Roehl and Liz Schultz.
 
"It's always the goal to come in here and compete and play well and I'm really happy with how we performed," Hess said. "I thought we did a really nice job of staying composed and pushing through. Sets three and four were tight and being able to battle through and finish is a pretty big deal."
 
After falling 25-15 to the Lutes (21-4) in the first set, Saint Benedict (25-7) came back to win the next three 25-15, 25-23 and 25-23.
 
The third set was back and forth to start, but with a 14-12 lead, CSB went on a five-point run that featured a pair of kills from Hunter Weiss and a kill and a service ace from Haley LaValle to put the team up 19-12. A pair of kills from Liz Schultz and a service ace by Lauren Mathews ended the set to tie the match at 1-1.
 
Pacific Lutheran led 22-20 late in the third set, but a Lute service error and attack error tie the set at 22-22, and a kill from Schultz and then a block from Katie Koch and Madison Weiss and then Schultz and Weiss gave CSB the 25-23 edge to go up 2-1.
 
The final set was just as close. The Lutes went up 7-4 early on several Saint Benedict attack errors, then took a 12-9 lead later in the match. But Mathews had a kill and Madison Weiss got a solo block to spark an 8-1 CSB run that made it 17-13 in favor of CSB. Madison had a pair of kills and Koch added a kill late in the run to push the team's lead.
 
The Lutes made things interesting, tying the set at 18-18 and going up 21-20. The set was tied at 22 and again at 23, but an attack error and a kill from Hunter Weiss gave Saint Benedict the win to advance to Saturday's region semifinals.
 
Hunter Weiss finished with 14 kills to lead CSB, which hit .139 to PLU's .090 Friday. Madison Weiss added 11 kills and six blocks and Schultz finished with 11 kills and 13 digs. Koch had 45 assists and 13 digs, LaValle led the team with 26 digs and Mary Wenisch also finished with 12 digs.
 
Danielle Skibiel had 10 total blocks for Pacific Lutheran, which had 17 team blocks to CSB's eight. Mackenzie Harris had 13 kills, Isabella Zubrod had 20 assists and Emily Duulaney led the team with 19 digs.
 
No. 5 Claremont-Mudd Scripps and No. 15 UW-Eau Claire face off in the first semifinal of the day after sweeps Friday afternoon. CMS beat Augsburg 3-0 and the Blugolds downed St. Thomas by the same score.