DULUTH, Minn. – Four players reached double-digit kills Saturday for the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team in its nonconference win over St. Scholastica. One of them reached double-digits for the first time ever.
Senior
Emily Marso recorded a career-high 11 kills for Saint Benedict in the team's win against the Saints Saturday in Duluth. The victory wrapped up nonconference play for CSB in 2019, and pushes the team's record to 19-3 overall heading into the final four games of the regular season.
The Saints (14-6) pushed the match to four sets after winning set two to tie the match at 1-1, but CSB responded with two straight wins to pick up the win. CSB won 25-16, 22-25, 25-18 and 25-20.
After a back-and-forth start to the first set,
Katie Koch and
Madison Weiss got kills and
Haley LaValle had a service ace to make it 12-9, and CSB never trailed again. Another kill from Weiss – and later two more – along with a service ace from Koch helped put Set 1 out of reach for the Saints. CSB led early in the second set, including 13-10 after a kill from
Hunter Weiss, but the Saints clawed back to take a 21-17 lead late. Another kill from Hunter tied the set at 22-22, but the Saints scored the final three points to tie the match 1-1.
Several attack errors, another Koch service ace and a pair of kills from Hunter put CSB up 6-3 early in the third set. Scholastica tied it 7-7, but
Gabby Heying, Marso and Koch had kills and
Morgan Holthaus added a service ace to make it 12-7, and CSB never looked back. The fourth set was much of the same as CSB took an early lead thanks to three early kills from Marso. The Saints got within one on several occasions, including 20-19, but Madison and Hunter both had kills and a big block together, and the duo ended the set and the match with another kill for each.
Hunter had 17 kills and four block assists, Madison had 14 kills and two solo blocks, Marso finished with 11 kills and Heying added 10 for CSB. Koch reached the 50-assist milestone for the third straight game, finishing with 52 to go along with 14 digs and five kills. LaValle led the team with 18 digs, Holthaus added 14 and
Bridget McDonald and
Mary Wenisch both added 13. CSB hit .280 as a team while the Saints hit .152.
Jessica Remer led Scholastica with 10 kills. Espi Austvold had 25 assists and Alcia Draper paced the defense with 27 digs.
CSB is back at home for a pair of games this weekend. The team hosts Carleton at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, and Gustavus at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26.
