ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – After starting MIAC play with a win Wednesday night, the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team is back on the road for a trio of matches at the UW-River Falls Tournament.
 
CSB – which has been able to play on its home court for its last six matches – takes on UW-Stevens Point at 5 p.m. Friday and Simpson at 7 p.m., and Saturday the team takes on host-school UW-River Falls at 12:30 p.m.
 
About the Pointers
UW-Stevens Point is 6-5 overall this season under first-year head coach Lyndsay Kooi. After a 1-3 showing in Texas to start the season, the Pointers have won three of their last four matches, including a 3-1 win over Bethel on Sept. 8 and a sweep of Saint Mary's. Two of the team's losses have been to ranked opponents, including a 3-0 loss to No. 7 Gustavus in Texas. April Gehl leads the team with 184 kills and 137 digs, and Ellie Adams runs the team's offense and has a team-high 353 assists.
 
About Simpson
CSB swept the Storm this past weekend at its home tournament in Claire Lynch. CSB won 25-11, 25-14 and 25-13 in a very efficient match. The Storm head into the weekend 4-6 overall and started American Rivers Conference play with a sweep of Central on Tuesday. Morgan Taylor leads the team with 91 kills and Ariana Martinez has 148 digs.
 
About the Falcons
Heading into its home tournament, UW-River Falls is 7-2 and on a five-match winning streak. The team went 4-0 at a tournament in Milwaukee over the weekend, then swept UW-Superior on Tuesday evening. The team's two losses are both to MIAC schools, St. Olaf and Carleton. Dakotah Poitra leads the team with 133 kills, Hailey Huseth (186 assists) and Mallory Griffin (159 assists) have split time at setter and Hannah Robb has a team-high 199 digs.
 
Who to Watch
Saint Benedict kicked off its 2018 MIAC season with a 3-1 win over St. Kate's at home Wednesday. Four players had double-digit kills for CSB, and sophomore setter Katie Koch had a career-high 48 assists. She currently leads the league with 361 assists and is fourth with 10.03 assists per set. Madison Weiss and Hunter Weiss are first and second in the league with 66 and 51 total blocks, and Hunter is first in the MIAC with 117 kills. Junior libero Haley LaValle also sits at the top of the league's leaderboard with 190 digs.