NORTHFIELD, Minn. – After picking up its first MIAC loss of the season Friday night at Saint Mary's, the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team looked to rebound Saturday afternoon and start another winning streak, but St. Olaf had other ideas.
The Oles – who received votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll released last week – swept No. 5 CSB 3-0 Saturday afternoon in Northfield. The loss pushes CSB's overall record to 17-3, and puts the team at 4-2 and in a three-way tie for third in the conference with five MIAC games left in the regular season.
All three sets were within three points Saturday, but the Oles (21-3, 4-2) were able to come away with the last few points to win 25-22, 25-23 and 25-22.
In the first set, St. Olaf led early, but
Madison Weiss had three kills and
Hunter Weiss added one to tie the set at 11-11. A kill from
Gabby Heying and an Ole service error put CSB up 18-17, but Olaf rattled off five of the next six points to go up 22-19. Madison and Hunter each had a kill to make it a one-point game, 22-21, and Hunter had another kill late to make it 23-22, but a CSB attack error and a kill from the Oles gave Olaf the first set.
Three Ole attack errors and kills from Heying, Hunter and
Morgan Holthaus put CSB up 6-2 early in the second set, but St. Olaf clawed its way back in to tie the set at 10-10, and took a 12-10 lead after an 8-2 run. The two teams traded the lead, and an Ole service error and kill from Heying put CSB up 20-17 late, but the Oles responded with a 5-0 run to go up 22-20, and then scored three of the last four points after CSB tied the set at 22-22.
Katie Koch had a kill and Madison had a service aces to put CSB up 4-1 in the third set, but the Oles went on a 6-0 run to take a 7-4 lead. Two service aces from
Haley LaValle and two kills from Heying were part of a 7-1 CSB run that tied the set at 14-14, but three straight CSB attack errors gave the Oles back a lead they would never give up. SCB got within 22-20 on a kill from Heying and 24-22 on a kill from Madison, but a St. Olaf kill ended the set and the match.
Heying had 14 kills to lead CSB, which hit .212 as a team and had 43 total kills to the Oles' 49.
Hunter Weiss had 11 kills and Madison had nine and three total blocks. Koch had 35 assists and eight digs, and
Mary Wenisch led the team with 15 digs.
Three Oles had double-digit kills, including Summer Reid with a team-high 11. Lexi Wall had 43 assists and 10 digs, and Emily Jarnigan had a match-high 19 digs.
CSB is back at home Wednesday, Oct. 16, when it hosts Hamline at 7 p.m., then wraps up nonconference play Saturday, Oct. 19, with a match at St. Scholastica.
