ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict volleyball had its best showing of the season Friday night in front of a friendly home crowd and lots of familiar faces in town for Family Weekend. The Bennies hit a season-best .286 en route to a 3-0 sweep of Saint Mary's – the team's first win in Claire Lynch this season.
Saint Benedict committed a season-low seven hitting errors on its way to a trio of 25-17 wins over the Cardinals. The win pushes CSB's record to 4-11 overall and 2-4 in the MIAC.
The Bennies took control early Friday night, and never let the Cardinals (7-15, 3-3) get comfortable. A trio of kills from
Gabby Heying and two kills from
Olivia Thompson helped CSB jump to a 13-5 lead early, and the Bennies led 18-8 after kills from
Emma Guest and
Madelyn Gregory and two service aces from Heying. The Cardinals used two quick runs to get within 22-17, but Heying had three straight kills to end the set.
The second set was closer to start, but a block from Gregory and Guest and a kill from Thompson was part of a 6-1 CSB run that put the Bennies up 15-10. The Cardinals fought back to within 15-14, but Thompson had a kill and
Mackenzie McDonald had back-to-back service aces, and later a pair of SMU attack errors and a kill from Heying made it 22-16. Gregory and Guest had late kills and a Cardinal attack error ended the set.
The Bennies went on a 7-0 run early in the third set to go up 12-5, but the Cardinals got within 12-9 and then 13-11. A kill from Heying and a ball handling error on the Cardinals stopped their run, but two more points from SMU made it 15-13. A kill from Gregory and two straight Saint Mary's attack errors gave the Bennies some breathing room at 18-13, and CSB went on a 7-2 run to end the set and the match. A kill from
Olivia Thompson ended the match and secured the win for Saint Benedict.
Heying recorded 15 kills and hit .341 to pace the Bennies, who had 41 total kills. Thompson added 11 kills and hit.385. The duo recorded just two attack errors on 67 attempts. Gregory finished with five kills and two total blocks for CSB, and
Audrey Spolidoro tied her career-high with 37 assists.
Mary Wenisch led the defense with 18 digs and Spolidoro and Guest each finished with 11.
Ciarra McNally led all hitters with 18 kills for Saint Mary's, which hit .112 and committed 23 errors. Mandy Schmidt had 27 assists and DeJaye Baab led the team's defense with 15 digs.
Saint Benedict returns home Saturday, Oct. 16, when it hosts Carleton at 7 p.m. in Claire Lynch. The team looks to complete the weekend sweep and move up in the MIAC standings. With five matches left in the regular season, the Bennies are tied for eighth with Macalester and St. Kate's.
