ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – After a slow start to the 2021 season, the College of Saint Benedict volleyball team is playing its best when it counts.
Friday night, the Bennies swept St. Kate's to clinch a spot in the MIAC Tournament. The sweep marked the fourth in the last five games for Saint Benedict, and the team's fifth in the last seven games. CSB is now 7-12 overall, 5-5 in the MIAC and guaranteed the fifth or sixth seed in the conference tournament, which starts Wednesday, Nov. 3.
The Wildcats (11-13, 4-6) pulled ahead early in sets two and three, but Saint Benedict came back and pulled out the three-set win 25-22, 25-23 and 25-19.
The first set was back-and-forth, with the two teams trading runs. St. Kate's tied the set 18-18, but the Bennies rattled off a 5-0 run that included kills from
Grace Holm and
Olivia Thompson and a block from that same duo to go ahead 23-18. The Wildcats responded with a 4-0 run to get within 23-22, but Thompson and
Gabby Heying had kills to close out the set and give the Bennies the win.
St. Kate's took a 7-3 lead early in the second, and led 15-10 midway through, but the Bennies kept chipping away. A kill from Holm and a Wildcat attack error got CSB within 17-15, and kills from
Emma Guest and Holm and another SCU attack error tied the set at 20-20. Thompson had a pair of kills to put CSB up 23-21, and Holm and Heying both had kills to end the set in the Bennies' favor after the Wildcats tied it at 23-23.
St. Kate's came out strong again in Set 3 and led 5-2, but the Bennies went on a 7-1 run to take a 9-6 lead. Thompson had three kills, Guest had a service ace and Thompson and Holm had a block as part of the run. Another 4-0 run pushed the lead to 13-7, and CSB never trailed from there. The Wildcats went on a short run with CSB at match point, but for the third time, Heying had the game-winning kill to end the set and the match.
Thompson was one of three Bennies with double-digit kills Friday. She had 11 and Heying and Holm both finished with 10 kills.
Audrey Spolidoro had a career-high 39 assists, and Guest led the way with 19 digs. Heying also added 15 digs and
Mary Wenisch finished with 14.
Maggie Rosen paced St. Kate's with 11 kills. Marissa Gilbertson had 28 assists and Julia Weiler had 22 digs. CSB held the Wildcats to a .090 hitting percentage.
The Bennies wrap up the regular season at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, in Moorhead against Concordia. The first round of the MIAC playoffs is Wednesday, Nov. 3, and seeding and pairings will be finalized following Saturday's matches.
