ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – After its best start in more than five years, the College of Saint Benedict found itself somewhere that its current roster had never been.
For the first time since 2014, CSB cracked the top 10 in the latest AVCA Division III Coach's Poll, released Tuesday afternoon. Saint Benedict checked in at No. 8 in the third poll of the 2019 season.
This marks CSB's first ranking inside the top 10 since Aug. 13, 2014, when it checked in at No. 9. It is also the team's highest ranking since it came in at No. 6 in the Nov. 12, 2013, poll. That season, CSB spent nine of the 12 polls ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
Tuesday's move marks another notch up the ladder for CSB in its climb up the national ladders. Saint Benedict started the year at No. 25 in the AVCA Preseason Poll, and moved up to No. 22 in Week 1. CSB jumped 10 spots to No. 12 last week, and into the top 10 Tuesday.
The team's latest jump comes after its second straight 4-0 weekend. After winning four games at its home tournament Sept. 6-7, the team won four more this past weekend at the Falcon Invitational in River Falls, Wis. CSB is currently 11-1 – its best start since 2013 when the team started the year 11-0 and went 14-1 before picking up its second loss of the year.
As well as moving up in the team rankings, CSB has several individuals in the top five in the national rankings – and one at the top of the national leaderboard. Junior
Hunter Weiss leads Division III with a .503 hitting percentage after hitting a .611 in four matches over the weekend. The next closest is Springfield's Camryn Bancroft, who is hitting .474 this season. She is also 14
th in the nation with 4.27 kills per set, and 18
th with 158 total kills.
Junior setter
Katie Koch is third in Division III in assists per set (11.43) and 11
th with 423 total assists, and
Madison Weiss is fourth in the nation in blocks per set (1.38), total blocks (51) and hitting percentage (.470).
Saint Benedict starts MIAC play Wednesday, Sept. 18, when it heads to Arden Hills to take on Bethel.
