WINONA, Minn. – Junior setter
Katie Koch reached a career milestone Friday night in the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team's MIAC match against Saint Mary's.
In the first set of the team's 3-1 loss to the Cardinals, Koch recorded 10 assists. Those 10 assists pushed her over the 2,000 assist milestone for her career. She finished the four-set match with 33 assists to put her at 2,026 assist for her career.
CSB won the first set 25-18 Friday night in Winona, but the Cardinals (12-9, 2-3) came back to win the next three sets 25-20, 25-23 and 25-17. The loss is Saint Benedict's first since August, and puts the team's record at 17-2 overall and 4-1 in the MIAC.
Saint Benedict led early in the first set, and after the Cardinals tied it at 10-10, CSB went on an 8-1 run to take an 18-11 lead, and cruised to the win. The team hit .278 in the first set, and
Madison Weiss had five kills. In the second set, CSB used several Cardinal attack errors, kills from
Gabby Heying and
Hunter Weiss and a
Mary Wenisch service ace to go up 16-14, but SMU countered with a 5-0 run to go up 19-16. Back-to-back blocks from the Weiss twins later made it 23-20, but the Cardinals ended the set with two straight points.
The third set was just as close, and CSB led as late as 18-16 thanks to kills from Heying and Hunter, but SMU went on a 4-0 run to go up 20-18. A kill from
Emily Marso tied the set 21-24, but the Cardinals went on another short run to go up 24-21. An SMU attack error and another Weiss twin block made it 24-23, but Saint Mary's scored on a kill to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth and final set started much like the first three, with the two teams trading leads early, and neither able to gain much traction. A solo block from
Madison Weiss put CSB up 12-9, but the Cardinals came back to tie the score and then take a 17-14 lead. A kill from Marso got CSB within two at 18-16, and a kill from Hutner later made it 17-20, but SMU scored the final five points of the night.
Saint Benedict finished the night hitting .103 while the Cardinals hit .113.
Hunter Weiss had 11 kills and
Madison Weiss added 10, Koch finished with 33 assists and
Haley LaValle led the defense with 19 digs.
Maurissa Isaacs also chipped in with a career-high 15 digs.
Lexi Barth led all hitters with 17 kills for Saint Mary's. Lillian Braun had 55 assists and DeJaye Baab had 28 digs.
CSB is back in action and back on the road right away Saturday, Oct. 12, when it heads to Northfield to take on St. Olaf at 3 p.m.
