ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team celebrated senior day by doing something Haley LaValle and Emily Marso had only done once before – beating Gustavus.
 
After dropping the first set, CSB came back to win the next three to pick up a 3-1 victory over the Gusties 22-25, 25-15, 25-14 and 25-20. That marked just the team's second win over Gustavus since 2015. The win pushes CSB's overall record to 21-3, and its MIAC mark to 7-2. The Bennies are tied for second in the MIAC with Augsburg with two matches left in the regular season.
 
In Saturday's first set, CSB rattled off four straight points thanks to two Gustie attack errors and a bad set to go up 7-3. Gustavus (12-14, 5-4) scored six of the next seven points to take a 9-8 lead, and later used a 4-0 run to go up 14-11. A big block from Hunter Weiss and Madison Weiss tied the set at 14-14, and a kill from Gabby Heying and another bad set later tied it at 20-20, but the Gusties went on a 5-2 run to end the set and go up 1-0.
 
Sets two and three were all Saint Benedict. The Gusties had 10 attack errors and hit .000  in the second set, and hit just .083 in the third. CSB hit .233 in the second set and an impressive .423 in the third with a single attack error. In the second set, Saint Benedict went on a 6-0 run mid-set that included two straight blocks from the Weiss twins and a pair of service aces from Heying to make it 15-8, and the Gusties were never able to recover.
 
In the third set it was a 5-0 run to make it 12-7, followed by several short runs, including a kill from Morgan Holthaus and a service ace from Holthaus to make it 24-12 before a kill from Heying later ended the set.
 
Gustavus hung around in the fourth set, but couldn't come back after a 4-0 CSB run made it 12-8. Holthaus had two kills in that run and Madison and Hunter each added one. The Gusties got within two on several occasions, but couldn't get any closer. A kill from Madison Weiss snapped a 5-1 Gustie run, and Hunter had two kills to end the set and the match.
 
CSB hit .303 for the match to the Gusties' .138. Hunter had 17 kills and seven block assists, Madison had 12 kills, nine block assists and two solo blocks and Holthaus tied her career high with eight kills. Katie Koch had 41 assists and 10 digs, and Haley LaValle paced the defense with 22 digs.
 
Kate Holtan led the Gusties with 14 kills. Nora Lehmkuhl had 26 assists and Hailey Embacher had 18 digs.
 
CSB is on the road Wednesday, Oct. 30, to take on league-leading St. Thomas. The Tommies are 9-0 in the MIAC and have already secured a spot in the league's postseason tournament. Saint Benedict ends the regular season Saturday, Nov. 2 at home against Concordia.