ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – After a solid performance early this season, the 3-1 College of Saint Benedict volleyball team travels to Eau Claire, Wis., to face the No. 4-ranked Blugolds at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
About the Blugolds
Eau Claire has put together a solid season so far, and the Blugolds head into Wednesday night's game on a one-match losing streak. The Blugolds are 2-1 overall and their only loss of the season is from No. 3-ranked Juanita. Arianna Barret is leading the team with 27 kills, Leah Witzel currently has 59 assists, and Abby Volk is currently leading the Blugolds with five blocks.
Last Meeting
CSB and UWEC played twice last season with the Blugolds coming out on top each time. The last time these teams met, Saint Benedict won the first set 25-20, but Eau Claire won the next three 25-22, 25-18 and 25-14 to advance to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament.
Hunter Weiss had 11 kills and six blocks and
Madison Weiss added nine kills and six blocks, and
Katie Koch finished with 34 assists and 10 digs.
The Storyline
Both Saint Benedict and the Blugolds are looking to end their one-game losing streak. This will be a big game for CSB, which just moved up to No. 22 in Division III. Beating the No. 4-ranked team would help to move them up further early in the season. This game starts a tough stretch for CSB as the team hosts Minnesota-Morris on Friday and Concordia and Northwestern Saturday. Both CSB and Eau Claire have good offenses, and whoever can run those offenses most efficiently will likely come out on top Wednesday.
Who to Watch
CSB fell last game to No.17 Trinity in four sits after finishing the night hitting .265.
Gabby Heying ended the night with hitting .227 with 16 kills,
Madison Weiss hit .588 and ended the night with 12 kills and five blocks.
Hunter Weiss also leads the team in kills with 42 on the season and
Katie Koch is leading the team in assists with 115. Hunter and Koch swept the MIAC Athlete of the Week awards to start the season, and both Hunter and Madison earned a spot on the Trinity National Invite All-Tournament Team.
