ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball team is headed back to the MIAC Semifinals for the third straight season.
The third-seeded Bennies swept No. 6 Bethel Tuesday night to advance to the second round of the MIAC Tournament. Up next for Saint Benedict is second-seeded St. Olaf. The two meet in a conference semifinal matchup at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, in Northfield. Augsburg swept Gustavus in Tuesday's other quarterfinal, and the Auggies take on No. 1 St. Thomas Thursday.
Tuesday's win also kept CSB undefeated in Claire Lynch Hall this season. CSB – which won by scores of 25-29, 26-24 and 25-17 Tuesday – is now 23-4 overall and a perfect 9-0 at home.
The Royals (16-12) were able to keep things close all night Tuesday, but were never able to get over the hump and take a significant lead on CSB. The first set was tied through 9-9, and kills from
Emily Marso and
Madison Weiss gave the Bennies a two-point lead they would never give up. Kills from
Hunter Weiss and Madison as part of a 4-1 CSB run made it 16-12, and Hunter, Marso and
Katie Koch all had kills as part of a 5-2 run to make it 22-16. A kill from Hunter ended the set.
The Royals took a 10-7 lead in the second set, but a kill and a service ace from
Gabby Heying and a kill from Hunter tied the set at 10-10. The two teams traded runs from there, and Bethel eventually took a 23-22 lead on a kill and a CSB attack error, but Marso notched a kill and the Royals had an attack error to put CSB up 24-23. Bethel got a block to tie the set, but Heying got a big kill and another Bethel attack error gave CSB the win – and the momentum heading into the third set.
Bethel's offense struggled to get going in the final set. Hunter and Heying started the match with kills, then kills from Hunter and
Morgan Holthaus and a big block from Holthaus and Madison made it 5-1. Another quick CSB run made it 9-2, and then Heying had a pair of kills and Madison notched another kill to put CSB up 17-7. The Royals made a short run of their own, but it was too little, too late, and CSB scored four of the last five points to seal the win – including a big block from Madison and Heying to end the match.
Saint Benedict and the Royals were fairly even on paper as CSB had 50 kills to Bethel's 45, and the Bennies had 86 digs to the Royals' 84. But CSB hit .261 while the Royals were held to .152 – including just .019 in the third set. Hunter hit .417 with 15 kills and no errors to lead CSB. Marso tied her career high with 11 kills and Heying added nine. Koch finished with 38 assists and 14 digs, and
Haley LaValle led the defense with 19 digs.
Mary Wenisch (13), Holthaus (13) and
Bridget McDonald (14) all hit double-digit digs.
Maria Claflin paced Bethel with 14 kills and Ellie Hoyt had 20 assists. Allie Fauth had a match-high 21 digs for Bethel.
Thursday's match marks CSB's second trip to Northfield this season. The Oles swept CSB on Oct. 12 – one of the team's four losses on the season. This marks the first meeting in the postseason between the two teams since 2010, and the top-seeded Oles won that match 3-2 over No. 5 St. Benedict en route to a MIAC Tournament title.
