ST. PAUL, Minn. – For the first time since 2008, the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team has plans past the regional tournament weekend.
Saint Benedict beat UW-Stevens Point 3-2 Saturday night in the St. Paul Regional Championship game to advance to the Elite 8. This marks the program's third trip to the national championship site and the first since 2008. The only other time CSB made it to the final round of the national tournament was in 1990 when it made it to the national semifinals.
The championship site for the 2019 NCAA Volleyball Division III National Tournament is the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Elite 8 matches take place Thursday, Nov. 21, the semifinals are Friday, Nov. 22 and the 2019 national championship match is Saturday, Nov. 23. Only two region champions were decided Saturday; the other six will be determined Sunday in the remaining Sweet 16 matches around the country.
CSB (26-5) appeared as though it was going to make easy work of Stevens Point after taking a 2-0 lead in the match. The Pointers had other ideas, however, as they dominated set three, and then came back from a large deficit to win set four and force a fifth and final set.
After a back-and-forth start to the fifth,
Katie Koch and
Emily Marso got a huge block on the Pointers to give the team an 8-7 lead, and another UWSP attack error gave CSB a little breathing room at 9-7. Stevens Point got within 9-8, but
Gabby Heying and
Madison Weiss both had kills to make it a three-point game, 11-8. The Pointers made it 11-8, but Weiss had back-to-back kills to put CSB up 13-10, and then a block from Madison and
Hunter Weiss and a Pointer attack error gave CSB the win and ensured the team its season would last until the last possible week.
The two teams traded leads in the first set, and the Pointers led 21-18 late, but kills from Madison and Koch and a Pointer attack error, and then a block from the Weiss twins and a kill from Hunter made it 23-21. UWSP tied the set at 23-23 and 24-24, but the Weiss twins had a block and Marso and Hunter got a block on Pointer outside April Gehl – who finished with 30 kills – to give CSB a 26-24 win.
Set two was all CSB as the Bennies won 25-14, and Set 3 was mostly Stevens Point. The Pointers led 16-4 at one point, but Saint Benedict clawed its way back and got within 25-18 before falling. UWSP was down 17-12 in the fourth, and CSB led 21-15 after a big block from
Madison Weiss, but Point fought all the way back to win 25-23 and set up the fifth set.
CSB finished the match with 192 attack attempts. Hunter had 21 kills, Madison had 18 and Gabby finished with 12. Koch had 52 assists and 30 digs, and
Haley LaValle added 19 digs while
Bridget McDonald finished with 18. Madison had nine block assists and Hunter had six. Hunter was named the St. Paul Regional MVP after her performance throughout the team's three games, and Madison and Koch both earned all-tournament team honors.
CSB learns more about its opponent and schedule at the final site Sunday and Monday as the remainder of the Sweet 16 games are played out.
